Abstract ID: 28.7491 | Accepted as Poster | Poster | 2025-02-28 12:45 - 14:15 | Ágnes‐Heller‐Haus/Small Lecture Room

Debris-covered glaciers occur in many mountain ranges worldwide and play an important role in the regional hydrological cycle. Information on their surface characteristics and spatial variations in supraglacial debris thickness is crucial for accurate and reliable simulations of the surface mass balance, runoff contribution and future evolution of debris-covered glaciers. Surface temperature and elevation change maps derived from satellite remote sensing data, together with different inversion techniques, have been used so far to estimate supraglacial debris thickness and model sub-debris ice melt rates. However, typical small-scale debris features and melt hotspots such as ice cliffs and supraglacial ponds are not spatially resolved by common satellite data. Whether the lack of detail in current debris thickness maps and the non-consideration of melt hotspots affects the modelling of debris-covered glaciers is currently under debate, but cannot be answered without detailed reference datasets. Here, we present a high-resolution supraglacial debris thickness map (10 cm) for the Kanderfirn (Swiss Alps) derived from UAV-based infrared thermography. The map shows typical small-scale debris thickness patterns and, in combination with several sub-debris ablation measurements, facilitates detailed sub-debris ice melt modelling.