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Regional scale studies of glacial cirque metrics provide key insights on the (palaeo) environment related to the formation of these erosional landforms. The growing availability of high resolution terrain models means that more glacial cirques can be identified and mapped in the future. However, the extraction of their metrics still largely relies on time consuming manual techniques or the combination of, more or less obsolete, GIS tools. In this paper, a newly coded toolbox is provided for the automated, and comparatively quick, extraction of 16 key glacial cirque metrics; including length, width, circularity, planar and 3D area, elevation, slope, aspect, plan closure and hypsometry. The set of tools, named ACME (Automated Cirque Metric Extraction), is coded in Python, runs in one of the most commonly used GIS packages (ArcGIS) and has a user friendly interface. A polygon layer of mapped cirques is required for all metrics, while a Digital Terrain Model and a point layer of cirque threshold midpoints are needed to run some of the tools. Results from ACME are comparable to those from other techniques and can be obtained rapidly, allowing large cirque datasets to be analysed and potentially important regional trends highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The asymmetry of the planar shape of drumlins is an established paradigm in the literature and characterizes drumlins as resembling tear drops with a blunt (bullet-shaped) stoss end and a tapering (pointed) lee end. It is widely cited and never been seriously questioned. In this paper, the planar shape of 44,500 drumlins mapped in various regional settings from drumlin fields in North America and Northern Europe were objectively analysed by means of Geographic Information System tools. Two parameters were considered. The first (denoted here as As pl) focuses on the relative position of the point of intersection between the axes of the maximum length and the maximum width. It is defined as the distance between the upstream (i.e. beginning of the drumlin) and the intersection point (measured along the longitudinal axis) divided by the entire length of the long axis. Results indicate that the intersection point of the majority of drumlins (64%) is very close to the longitudinal midpoint (0.33< As pl <0.66). The second parameter (As pl_A ) is defined as the ratio between the area of the upstream half of the drumlin to that of the entire drumlin. Results show that for most drumlins (81%), the upper half area is almost as large as the down-half (0.45< As pl_A <0.55). Taken together, these results concordantly indicate that drumlin planar shape has a strong tendency to be longitudinally symmetric and that the long-established paradigm of their plan form is false. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of a bathymetric database that covers about 80% of the Icelandic shelf has made it possible to produce a geomorphological map of the glacial landforms. The digital elevation model of the bathymetry was analyzed as a series of shaded relief images. Trough edges, bulging trough mouths, moraines, eskers, melt water channels, streamlined bedrock and streamlined drift, mostly hitherto unmapped, distributed all around the island have been identified. Moraines are found on the shelf, within troughs and inside fjords. Streamlined landforms are always confined to the bottom of troughs. Troughs appear to have been cut by ice streams draining an ice sheet that likely covered the entire shelf. At the shelf break, most troughs terminate with contours that bulge in a convex-outwards fashion. This suggests that an ice stream eroded, transported and finally deposited large amounts of sediment at the trough mouth. Overall, the glacial morphology of the shelf highlights a radial pattern that indicates a main ice divide near the centre of Iceland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The indentation index, which is the ratio between the real length of a coast and its Euclidean length, is a parameter applied to characterize rock coasts and to study their evolution. Rather than subjectively selecting two or more sectors of a rock coast, the method proposed in this paper considers analyzing the indentation index on the same coastline previously split into several adjacent tracts with equal Euclidean length. By digitizing the coastline in a GIS environment, it becomes possible to test several Euclidean length values on the same coastline, obtaining a different spatial variability of the indentation index with each trial. The best length values that maximize the spatial variability of the indentation index are those that determine an indentation index pattern characterized by high variance and low spatial autocorrelation. The spatial distribution of the indentation index can eventually be analyzed considering known littoral forces acting on the studied coast. When more than one Euclidean length value is found to maximize the variability of indentation index within the same coast, it is likely that there are one or more littoral forces acting or interacting differently at different scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The morphometry of 432 glacial cirques in the Maritime Alps (Western French-Italian Alps), studied over several years of fieldwork, was analysed with the use of a geographical information system. Some of the parameters automatically evaluated from digital elevation models required an objective and relatively new definition. In particular, cirque length was measured along a line that, from the threshold midpoint, splits the cirque into two equivalent surfaces; cirque width was automatically drawn as the longest line inscribed in the cirque and perpendicular to the length line. Significant correlations were found among the different factors and parameters analysed. In particular, cirque shape analysis showed that cirques develop allometrically in the three dimensions, i.e. more in length and width than in altitudinal range. Nevertheless cirques of the Maritime Alps have a regular, almost circular shape (meanL/Wvalue= 1.07). The correlations among length, width and area are all very high (r2= 0.8–0.9). In terms of size, cirques show a wide range in area from 0.06 to 5.2 km2 with a mean value of 0.4 km2. The largest cirques are found on SSW-facing slopes and at high elevations. Small cirques can be found at all altitudes but all those at high elevation are part of compound cirques at the main head valleys. Most cirques (37%) are characterized by a northern aspect; NE and SW are also frequent directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Monte Cavallo hosted an isolated glacial system (ca. 37 km2) during the LGM. • LGM ELAs in the south-eastern Alps were between 1100 and 1700 m. • Reconstructed palaeoprecipitation is similar to the modern-day climate. • Mediterranean moisture advection was key for glacier development. • Lake sediments in the Caltea Valley relate to a pre-LGM interstadial (>45 ka BP) Glacier-based reconstructions of Equilibrium Line Altitudes (ELAs) are important to understand changes of temperature and precipitation over longer time scales and may help to validate regional palaeoclimate models. Here, we present new insights into the ELA in the south-eastern part of the European Alps during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 26.5 to 19 ka), based on the geomorphological record of the Monte Cavallo Group (Venetian Prealps, NE-Italy). This mountain range hosted a glacial system that remained isolated from larger valley glaciers in its vicinity and therefore likely responded very dynamically to changes in climatic boundary conditions. Through detailed mapping of glacial sediments and landforms, we were able to constrain the extent of these palaeoglaciers and model their surface geometry and ELA via semi-automated toolboxes in a geographic information system. In the absence of numerical datings, these landforms were related to an LGM advance through geomorphological and stratigraphical means. In a next step, ELAs were also recalculated for other LGM glaciers in the south-eastern Alps, allowing wider palaeoclimatic conclusions to be drawn. These ELAs are in the range of 1100 to almost 1700 m and show a strong E-W gradient with particular low values in the Julian and eastern Carnic Prealps. This pattern indicates that during the LGM a precipitation gradient existed along the south-eastern fringe of the Alps, with moisture being preferentially advected to these mountain ranges while the Venetian Prealps in the West received less precipitation. Based on the reconstructed ELAs, annual precipitation sums during the regional LGM glacier culmination (ca. 25.5 to 23.5 ka) are estimated between 1820 and 2920 ± 750 mm/yr. Those values are largely compatible with data from modern weather stations and indicate no or little reduction in LGM precipitation as it is reported from other parts of the Alps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glacier reconstructions are widely used in palaeoclimatic studies and this paper presents a new semi-automated method for generating glacier reconstructions: GlaRe, is a toolbox coded in Python and operating in ArcGIS. This toolbox provides tools to generate the ice thickness from the bed topography along a palaeoglacier flowline applying the standard flow law for ice, and generates the 3D surface of the palaeoglacier using multiple interpolation methods. The toolbox performance has been evaluated using two extant glaciers, an icefield and a cirque/valley glacier from which the subglacial topography is known, using the basic reconstruction routine in GlaRe. Results in terms of ice surface, ice extent and equilibrium line altitude show excellent agreement that confirms the robustness of this procedure in the reconstruction of palaeoglaciers from glacial landforms such as frontal moraines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A toolbox for the automated calculation of glacier equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) using the Accumulation Area Ratio, Area-Altitude Balance Ratio, Area-Altitude and Kurowski methods is presented. These are the most commonly-used methods of ELA calculation in palaeo-glacier reconstructions. The toolbox has been coded in Python and runs in ArcGIS requiring only the reconstructed surface of the palaeo-glacier (a DEM) as input. Through fast and automatic calculation this toolbox simplifies the process of ELA determination and can successfully work both for a single glacier and for large datasets of multiple glaciers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present new chronological data and Equilibrium Line Altitude (ELA) information for palaeoglaciers in the Maritime Alps during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the early deglaciation. Three relatively small catchments were investigated to test if the response of small (1–10 km2) glaciers to LGM climatic forcing was distinguishable from that of larger glacial systems. Palaeoglacier geometries and ELAs were reconstructed using geomorphological evidence and toolboxes in a geographic information system. Chronological control was provided through 10Be surface exposure dating of erratic boulders located on frontal and lateral moraine ridges. Our data indicate two phases of glacier advance or stabilisation in the Maritime Alps, the first occurring at ca. 25 to 24 ka and the second at ca. 20.5 to 19 ka. This is consistent with ages that have been reported from larger outlet lobes along the south-western Alpine fringe, where the second LGM advance is usually preserved in the form of a recessional moraine. Within the uncertainty of the dating technique, there are no distinguishable differences between the responses of small and large Alpine glaciers to the LGM climate. The reconstructed ELAs for palaeoglaciers in the Maritime Alps indicate a considerable variability, which appears to be linked to differences in received solar radiation, from ca. 1600 m a.s.l. for north-facing cirque glaciers to almost 2000 m a.s.l. for glaciers with a southerly aspect. We argue that such influence of solar radiation needs to be considered when using ELAs for palaeoclimatic inferences at regional scales. The calculated ELAs are up to 450 m higher than those in the northern Apennines or the Corsican mountains, indicating a relatively dry LGM climate on the Italian side of the Maritime Alps. • Glaciers in the Maritime Alps advanced at 25 to 24 ka and at 20.5 to 19 ka. • Synchronous advances of small and large glaciers across the south-western Alps. • Catchment aspect and solar radiation had a crucial influence on palaeoglacier ELAs. • Regional glacier ELA of 1800 m a.s.l. indicates a relatively dry LGM climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ice sheets flowing across a sedimentary bed usually produce a landscape of blister-like landforms streamlined in the direction of the ice flow and with each bump of the order of 102 to 103 m in length and 101 m in relief. Such landforms, known as drumlins, have mystified investigators for over a hundred years. A satisfactory explanation for their formation, and thus an appreciation of their glaciological significance, has remained elusive. A recent advance has been in numerical modelling of the land-forming process. In anticipation of future modelling endeavours, this paper is motivated by the requirement for robust data on drumlin size and shape for model testing. From a systematic programme of drumlin mapping from digital elevation models and satellite images of Britain and Ireland, we used a geographic information system to compile a range of statistics on length L, width W, and elongation ratio E (where E = L/W) for a large sample. Mean L, is found to be 629m (n =58,983), mean W is 209m and mean E is 2.9 (n =37,043). Most drumlins are between 250 and 1000 metres in length; between 120 and 300 metres in width; and between 1.7 and 4.1 times as long as they are wide. Analysis of such data and plots of drumlin width against length reveals some new insights. All frequency distributions are unimodal from which we infer that the geomorphological label of ‘drumlin’ is fair in that this is a true single population of landforms, rather than an amalgam of different landform types. Drumlin size shows a clear minimum bound of around 100m (horizontal). Maybe drumlins are generated at many scales and this is the minimum, or this value may be an indication of the fundamental scale of bump generation (‘proto-drumlins’) prior to them growing and elongating. A relationship between drumlin width and length is found (with r 2 =0.48) and that is approximately W=7 L 1/2 when measured in metres. A surprising and sharply-defined line bounds the data cloud plotted in E–W–L space, and records a scale-dependent maximum elongation limit (approximated by E max = L 1/3, when L measured in metres). For a given length, for some reason as yet unknown, drumlins do not exceed the elongation ratio defined by this scaling law. We also report and compare our statistics to an amalgamated sample (25,907 drumlins) of measures derived from around 50 published investigations. Any theory must be able to explain the drumlin statistics and fundamental scaling properties reported herein and they thus provide powerful tests for drumlin modelling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]