World / Drone images reveal shrinkage of Iceland's glaciers since 1980s

Dramatic images capture the extent of ice-loss from some of Iceland's largest glaciers in the last twenty years.  

Scientists from the University of Dundee compared views from 1980's aerial surveys to modern day drone photos showing the stark reality of climate change.

The team used revolutionary 3D mapping technology to compare the group of outlet glaciers on the south side of Vatnajökull, one of the largest ice caps in Europe.

Aerial mapping photographs taken by the National Land Survey of Iceland in the 1980s were modelled in 3D using photogrammetry software to measure the changes in the landscape.

While 3D mapping is routinely used by scientists to measure the historical ice surface, the project which took two-years went a step further - aligning the models with current day drone photographs to highlight the impact of climate change on the region.

Dr Baxter, from the University of Dundee who led the project in collaboration with the University of Iceland and the Icelandic Meteorological Office said: 'It is important to show how climate change is physically and visibly affecting the region.

To do this, we developed a novel process based on principles that are used by glaciologists to measure ice-volume loss.

'This method allows us to compose unique aerial views of past landscapes and to see how they have changed over the last 30 to 40 years. This period, which is within living memory for many people, has seen accelerated melt in Southeast Iceland.'

Vatnajökull ice cap, which covers an area of 2973 squared miles (7,700 kilometres squared), has lowered by around 66 feet (20 metres) on average in the last 30 years. 

The height of the outlet glaciers pictured in the image comparisons has dropped even more, up to 328 to 492 feet (100 to 150 metres) in some areas.

The glacier ice margins are now retreating hundreds of feet every year with the area of the icecap reduced by over 159 square feet since the turn of the century.

Dr Baxter added: 'While we have a fantastic resource of mapping photographs from the 1980s, this method can also be applied to aerial photographs that are even older. 

'The archives are huge and we have barely scratched the surface in terms of using them to better show how the warming climate is revealed in our landscapes.'   

The images produced by Dr Baxter were shared by the Icelandic Meteorological Office to coincide with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 'Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate'. It is hoped that they will help promote public outreach for climate science and glaciology in Iceland. 

Dr Thorvardur Arnason, Director of the University of Iceland's Hornafjordur Research Centre, said: 'Dr. Baxter's highly innovative work adds new dimensions both to the monitoring of glacier recession and to the communication of the severe impacts caused by catastrophic climate change on sensitive environments. 

'The development of such novel vehicles for public outreach - where science and art essentially share a common platform - is of great importance in our attempts to understand and address the unprecedented scale, diversity and complexity of the ongoing climate crisis.'

Recently, Dr Baxter's photogrammetry has also revealed the shrinking glaciers of Mont Blanc, Europe's tallest peak – by comparing aerial photographs taken 100 years apart.