I was able to use the NED DEM datasets Brad gave me last week to add to my ever growing database of spatial data for SW Colorado. Since I do not currently have a full version of ArcInfo that I can use this week since I am home for Spring Break, I will have to wait until next week to product the datasets I need from these DEM's. Once I do have access to ArcGIS tools I should be able to start the first part of a rule-based model that will allow me to identify potential rock glacier fomation areas. Once this is acquired, I will manually search these areas for indications of rock glaciers and map them as polygon features to later be added to the database.
In the meantime I have been putting in orders for more data at USDA NRCS for the remaining counties that I posted earlier here: http://kclyons09.blogspot.com/2009/02/study-area-defin.html . I am currently waiting on them to send me a link to download the rest of the counties containing the same data files I requested for Ouray county last week. Since they have download quotas on all of their spatial data I am only able to download about 1 county dataset every day. Hopefully by the time I am back from Spring break I will have this data collection completed.
Since I do not currently have access to ArcGIS I have been looking ahead at how to complete the process of rock glacier identification. I started today by looking up all of the relevent journal articles pertaining to rock glaciers, remote sensing, and GIS.
I have also discovered a worldwide glacier database which I hoped would identify a few of the rock glaciers in the study area. Unfortunately, it seems that due to the debris, lichen, and other issues they are not easily identifiable as other glaciers the system identified from remote sensing. The database I have been using is called GLIMS and is accessible at: http://nsidc.org/cgi-bin/get_metadata.pl?id=nsidc-0272 .
After discovering this information I started to research other Journal articles pertaining to rock glaciers, their formation and how to find them. I found several good resources that are good starting points in developing my rock glacier database. I have listed these articles below and the PDF files are accessible through the library or my Adrive data store.
After reading a Journal article by Brenning (2009) entitled "Benchmarking classifiers to optimally integrate terrain analysis and multispectral remote sensing in automatic rock glacier detection" in which he benchmarks several different algorithms to identify rock glaciers in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, which comprise most of our study area. He concludes that a combination of remote sensing and terrain analysis are the best methods for rock glacier identification. It is also noted that current remote sensing techniques do not have the ability to map rock glaciers since they do not have a distinct spectral signal.
I will be posting more journal articles and links to related websites as I come across them.
Related studies relevant to this project:
Brenning (2009) -- "Benchmarking classifiers to optimally integrate terrain analysis and multispectral remote sensing in automatic rock glacier detection"
Download PDF here
Millar and Westfall (2007) -- "Rock glaciers and related periglacial landforms in the Sierra Nevada, CA, USA; inventory, distribution and climatic relationship"
Download PDF here
Konrad, et al. (1999) -- "Rock glacier dynamics and paleoclimatic implications"
Download PDF here
Esper-Angillieri (2008) -- "A preliminary inventory of rock glaciers at 301S la
Cordillera Frontal of San Juan, Argentina"
Download PDF here
GIS and Rock Glaciers in Norway:
http://nsidc.org/cgi-bin/get_metadata.pl?id=ggd284
Currently 19/90 hours completed as of March 10th, 2009
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