EGU2020-7953, updated on 12 Jun 2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-7953
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

The LiDAR revolution in glacial geomorphology: its gifts and challenges

Mark Johnson
Mark Johnson
  • University of Gothenburg, Earth Sciences, Sweden (markj@gvc.gu.se)

Science progresses when we are afforded with a ‘better look’ at nature. For geomorphology, the production over the last 100 years of an ever-increasingly resolved view of landscapes with topographic maps, DEMs, remote-sensing images, etc. has always been accompanied by new geomorphologic discoveries. LiDAR images of formerly glaciated landscapes reveal glacial landforms in extraordinary detail, showing previously mapped landforms in exquisite new detail (for example, end moraines, drumlins, eskers, ice-walled-lake plains etc.). Particularly important are a range of ‘mesoscale’ landforms that are better seen with LiDAR: De Geer moraines, crag-and-tail ridges, low-relief lineations, post-glacial faults, glacial hummocks, and raised shorelines to name a few. A spate of research has come out recently on such features. LiDAR images also have the potential of revealing landforms new to glacier science, of which ‘murtoos’ are an example. But LiDAR also raises the challenge of geomorphic classification. For example, glacial hummocks and glacial hummocky topography are a mesoscale landform that is known for its high variability. This variability, made more dramatic with new LiDAR images, along with the polygenetic origin of landforms called ‘hummocks’ reveals a weakness in our terminology that needs to be acknowledged and dealt with.

How to cite: Johnson, M.: The LiDAR revolution in glacial geomorphology: its gifts and challenges, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-7953, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-7953, 2020

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