Ice Divides and Drainage Basins on the Ice Caps of Franz Josef Land, Russian High Arctic, Defined from Landsat, KFA-1000, and ERS-1 SAR Satellite Imagery

Abstract

Satellite imagery from the Landsat TM and MSS, Russian KFA-1000, and ERS-1 SAR instruments has been analyzed to define ice divides and basins on the ice caps of the 16,130-km² Franz Josef Land archipelago, Russian High Arctic. Photographic products from the Russian KFA-1000 camera system provide the highest resolution satellite imagery (5 m) presently available of the archipelago. Over 900 km of ice divides have been identified on the crests of these ice caps. The largest ice-cap drainage basin in Franz Josef Land is that of Znamenity Glacier in Vilchek Land, at about 470 km². The ice masses on this island, Graham Bell, La Ronsier, Hall, and Eva-Liv islands, are relatively simple in surface topography and are underlain by relatively thick ice. On smaller ice caps, where thinner ice is present, drainage basins are also inferred from the position of nunataks marking their boundaries. Mapping of major drainage basins on the ice caps of Franz Josef Land is a prerequisite for detailed glaciological investigations in the archipelago, and is complementary to existing Russian inventories of the main ice-cap outlet glaciers.