Temporal Evolution of glacier albedo in the Ortles-Cevedale group between 1984 and 2015
Davide Fugazza, University of Milan (IT)
The albedo is a fundamental component of the glacier energy budget, determining the amount of solar radiation available for ice melting. While fresh snow has a high albedo (> 0.8), supraglacial debris lowers ice albedo and enhances absorption of solar radiation increasing melt. In this study, we take advantage of the long temporal record of observations from the Landsat family of satellites at 30 m spatial resolution to investigate the evolution of this variable on glaciers of the Ortles-Cevedale Group in Stelvio National Park, and the relationship with the increase in debris cover.