Mapping of Paierlbreen Ice Mélange with UAVs

The overarching goal of this project is to provide fundamental physical insights into the processes affecting the terminus positions of marine-terminating outlet glaciers to address the extent to which ice mélange influences pre- calving processes. The specific primary project objectives are to: 1. Determine a range of reasonable mélange characteristics of Paierlbreen's proglacial melange from UAV-derived orthoimagery (specifically digital elevation models (DEMs) to guide a series of numerical modeling experiments. 2. Simulate the solid-fluid interactions of an iceberg calving into a mélange-filled fjord using time-dependent 3-D smoothed particle hydrodynamic (SPH) numerical modeling. Secondary objectives include deriving DEMs of the Paierlbreens terminus geometry for an ongoing comparison effort at the University of Silesia to study Svalbard outlet glaciers as indicators of local climate changes.