THE scale of ice loss from some of Iceland’s biggest glaciers has been demonstrated by a Scots scientist.
Using old aerial images, drone photography and 3D modelling, Dr Kieran Baxter from the University of Dundee has created composite images which document changes to a group of glaciers on the south side of Vatnajokull – one of the largest ice caps in Europe – from the 1980s to the present day.
Baxter, a researcher from the 3DVisLab at the University’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, said the period has seen “accelerated melt” in the area.
He went on: “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.”
Vatnajokull ice cap has lowered by around 20 metres on average in the last 30 years, researchers said.
Baxter led the two-year project in collaboration with the University of Iceland and the Icelandic Meteorological Office, which conduct glacier monitoring in the country.
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