GLIMS Update: (1) ASTER Imaging. (2) Meetings (GLIMS workshop in Norway)

[Jeffrey S Kargel]

Dear GLIMS colleagues,

Happy 2004!  This GLIMS Update contains two important items.  Note the Jan.
11 abstract deadline for the EGU meeting.

I. Request for reports on ASTER imaging success/failure

II. Summary and details of GLIMS-related meetings, including the a GLIMS
Workshop, Norway, August 2004 (open to non-GLIMS participation).
==========================

I. ASTER's MIDDLE AGE DEMANDS ATTENTION FROM EVERY REGIONAL CENTER:
failure/success reports needed.

ASTER is well into its expected middle age.  Landsat ETM+, though having
produced a wealth of glacier images, now is almost useless for further
GLIMS/glacier observations.  The U.S. government has no further
high-resolution, unclassified multispectral visible/near-infrared imaging
systems planned.  ASTER's performance has been both spectacular and much
less than planned in terms of glacier coverage.   The meaning is clear:
Every regional center should assess ASTER's successes and failures across
your regional center.  Top priority is one-time coverage of every glacier
with the appropriate gain settings sufficient to render details over snow
and ice.  This top priority has been fulfilled across most of Earth's
glacier areas, but some regional centers still report highly incomplete
coverage, whether due to clouds, wrong gain settings (saturated snow and
ice areas), or other problems.  WE MUST FILL THESE GAPS!  To do so, I have
to be made aware of where gaps exist, where successes exist, where images
have been acquired but they are insufficient for your needs, etc.  I will
be making a strong plea to ASTER Mission Operations to modify the
acquisition plans so as to enable gap filling, and secondly to improve
multitemporal coverage. While L1B images are most needed for glacier
analysis (and EDC will be performing a renewed round of reprocessing to
L1B), for further data acqusition planning my emphasis is on L1A or any
useful ASTER glacier images.

Please, over the next few weeks and months, send me detailed information on
which glacier areas have (1) high-quality multi-temporal clear-sky
coverage, (2) one-time clear-sky coverage with correct gain settings for
snow and ice, (3) one-time clear-sky coverage with images of any useful
quality, but not necessarily correct gain settings, or good gains but
partial cloud obscuration; (4) no useful coverage or some coverage but of
minimal utility.  There may be some special situations, such as regions of
debris-covered glaciers, where your focus may legitimately be on
acquisition of images with gain states set for rock targets; rarely, you
may require both high and low gain states to obtain satisfactory coverage.
Indicate special circumstances as needed.

After downloading all needed browse images (or full images) from EDC Data
Gateway, you may use either of two methods to inform me of successes and
failures in imaging.

(A) One approach, if it meets your requirements, is to use polygons in the
regional center map:

http://www.GLIMS.org/MapsAndDocs/icecheck.html.

Check your regional center and report to me based on the yellow polygons.
(Please don't worry for now about incorrect demarkations of regional center
boundaries and whether a RC is "pending" or not; I am aware of a problem
with that.)  You can send me a jpeg, tif or gif or faxed version of those
polygons, marking those according to the four sets of criteria above. If
this approach works for you, it will be easiest for you and me and ASTER
Mission Operations.  You can add a fifth category that is "mixed results,"
but then send me the details according to polygons which you generate with
the needed added detail, using method "B."

(B) For many regional centers, approach "A" will be insufficient.  Four
sets of more detailed polygons according to those four criteria above could
be expressed in latitude-longitude coordinates.  The polygons should only
roughly outline the glacier areas but not extend far beyond the glaciers.
I prefer 3 to 8 vertices per polygon will work (don't outline glaciers
really closely).  Large continguous ice masses may be broken arbitrarily
into smaller polygons.  Of course the ASTER image footprint is 60 km wide,
which should give you an idea of the needed resolution of the polygons and
their conformability to the glacier areas.  For very small glacier areas, a
center lat-lon point would be acceptable if the glacier area fits very well
inside a 60 x 60 km area.  A general rule may be that if the glacier area
has more than 10 km of extent, a set of polygon vertices would be better
than  a single center lat/lon; and if two glacier areas have an intervening
gap greater than about 10 km, it is best to provide two separate polygons
excluding the gap.

FINALLY, if you are noticing many images obtained in the wrong season (too
much snow cover, unacceptable cloud frequency, or whatever), let me know.

There are two deadlines indicated for you to fulfill this request, and you
can choose which applies to you.  But you should be aware that ASTER is
well into its middle age, and ignoring the deadline may be very damaging to
prospects for full ASTER coverage and repeat coverage of your regional
center.   The only prospect for raising imaging priorities for each area if
for me to receive these reports.

February 15, 2004: Reports will be compiled and forwarded to Mission
Operations hopefully in time to affect the northern summer imaging season.
This reporting will also assist in my ASTER Team membership report in late
February.

August 1, 2004: Reports will be compiled and forwarded to Mission
Operations hopefully in time to affect the future of ASTER observations
globally starting by Dec. 1, 2004.

Each regional center chief, or a designated alternate, should report for
the whole RC.  (If you can report on only part of your regional center on a
timely basis, that is okay; just please send me reports, and update it
later.) If you have special needs linked to field campaigns, please
indicate that with details on where, when, and how frequently you need
repeat imaging.  Hopefully, this system will become fully functional before
ASTER dies.

==================================
II. GLIMS-related meeting summary.

The next GLIMS workshop will be held in Norway (See Item 3; please plan for
it, and await further notice of logistical details).  A GLIMS workshop also
will be held in 2005 at a site to be determined; possibilities include New
Zealand, China, or South America (other?) depending on host interest and
participant interest.  The hope is to hold the 2005 meeting near a glacier
outside of Europe and North America, and preferably in association with
another meeting that would draw many of us anyway.  I am committed to
attending the first three meetings listed below and will organize at least
a small working lunch or dinner (plus a full workshop at the Norway
meeting).

(1) Meeting: EGU
Where: Nice, France
When: 25-30 April 2004
Session: session CR7 "Regional variablity of glacier change " (see also
other relevant Cryospheric sessions,
http://www.cosis.net/members/meetings/programme/view.php?p_id=93)
Convener: Kaeaeb, A.
Co-Conveners: Schneider, C.; Kaser, G.
Abstract deadline: 11 January 2004
Pre-registration/pre-hotel booking: 8 April 2004
More information: egu at copernicus.org

(2) Meeting: Asia-Oceania Geosciences Society.  The first AOGS Annual
Meeting and Exhibition.
Where: Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre
Singapore
When: 5-9 July, 2004
Session: Glaciers and Alpine Hydrology in High Asia
Convenors: Mr. Mool and Jeff Kargel
Abstracts due:
Information: http://www.asiaoceania.org/confer.html

(3) Meeting: GLIMS workshop, then Int'l. Glaciol. Soc. Symp. on Arctic
Glaciology (IGS)
Where:
    GLIMS, to be determined (either Oslo or Geilo, Norway).
    IGS: Geilo, Norway.
    IGS Field trip: Jostedalsbreen (glacier), Norway
When:
    GLIMS 20-21 Aug.  (1.5 days, PROBABLE DATES AND TENTATIVE DURATION)
    IGS: 23-27 Aug.
    IGS Field trip 28-30 Aug.
GLIMS workshop sessions:
    (1) Retreating/wasting glaciers (open to registrants).
    (2) Advancing/stable glaciers (open to registrants).
    (3) General GLIMS business and book planning (open to registrants).
    (4) Summary  (open to media and public)
Contact:
    Jeff Kargel (GLIMS workshop)
    Jon Ove Hagen (Chairman, IGS Symposium),  jo.hagen at geografi.uio.no
IGS meeting information:
http://www.igsoc.org/symposia/2004/geilo/geilo1.html

===============================
Other meetings of interest:

(1) The 2004 JOINT ASSEMBLY of CGU, AGU, and SEG
Montreal, Canada
17-21 May 2004
Includes sessions on: C03 Remote sensing of the cryosphere, C04
Modeling/Observation of climate-glacier system
Abstracts due 19 Feb. 2004

(2) Meeting: 1st International Workshop on Human Dimensions of Climate and
Environmental Change in Central Asia
Where:Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA)
When: May 21-22, 2004
Contact: Elena Lioubimtseva <lioubime at gvsu.edu>

(3) XIII Glaciological Symposium, on Shrinkage of the Glaciosphere: Facts
and Analysis
Where: St Petersburg, Russia
When: 24-28 May, 2004
Contact: Vladimir Kotlyakov / Vladimir Mikhalenko, Glaciological
Association, Institute of Geography, Russian
   Academy of Sciences, Staromonethy, 29, 109017 Moscow, Russia
   Tel: [7](095) 959 00 32
   Fax: [7](095) 959 00 33
   E-mail: igras at igras.geonet.ru
   website: www.icemass.narod.ru/symp.htm

(4) Meeting: International Symposium on Ice and Water Interactions:
Processes Across the Phase Boundary
Where: Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.
When: 26?30 July 2004
Information: IGS website

(5) Meeting: IGARSS 2004
Where: Anchorage, Alaska
When: Sep. 20-24, 2004
Abstract deadline: March 12.
Information: http://www.igarss04.org/

(6) 2005 - Dates to be announced--MIGHT BE POSSIBLE FOR A GLIMS WORKSHOP TO
BE ASSOCIATED (ALTERNATIVE #1)
** International Symposium on Sea Ice, New Zealand
Secretary General, International Glaciological Society, Lensfield Road,
Cambridge CB2 1ER, UK
Web: IGS Symposia

(7) 2005 - Dates to be announced-- MIGHT BE POSSIBLE TO HOLD AN ASSOCIATED
GLIMS WORKSHOP (ALTERNATIVE #2)
** International Symposium on High-elevation Glaciers and Climate Records,
Lanzhou, People's Republic of China


Wishing you a happy and productive new year,

Jeff K


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Energy conservation isn't just "green" and future-oriented, it's for
economic prosperity, national/global security, and global peace.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Dr. Jeffrey S. Kargel
U.S. Geological Survey
2255 N. Gemini Dr.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
U.S.A.

Telephone (+1) (928) 556-7034
Fax (+1) (928) 556-7014
Email: jkargel at usgs.gov
Home email: jkargel at flaglink.com
Home phone: (+1)(928) 527-4196