On the 20th of March, Prof. Hans-Gerd Maas, Professor of Photogrammetry at the Technische Universität Dresden, together with a colleague, will leave for the San Rafael Glacier in the North Patagonian Ice Field in Chile. For three weeks, they will take photogrammetric measurements to assess and analyse alterations in the glacier's movement velocity. In order to do this, they will evaluate sequences of images photographed by a terrestrial camera, and data gathered by a laser scanner mounted on an airplane.
Researchers from the TU Dresden's Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing have already made similar measurements of glaciers in Greenland in 2004 and 2007, and have, among other things, documented the doubling of the movement velocity of the Jacobshavn Isbræ glacier during the 20th century, which has increased from 20 metres to 40 metres per day. Since increases of velocity have also been observed in glaciers in the Patagonian Ice Field, the scientists from Dresden, together with their Chilean research partners, will take detailed measurements to record alterations in the glacier's movement during the course of the expedition.
The project is a focus of the research programme called "Recent Measurement, Analysis, and Management Practice in Environmental Monitoring", which is being carried out within Dresden's Department of Earth Sciences. The project is being funded by the International Office of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The Department of Glaciology and Climate Change at the CECS (Centro de Estudios Científicos) in Valdivia is the Chilean research partner, and it will be represented by two researchers, who will then make up the four-man expedition team.

Author: Martin Morgenstern

Information for journalists:
Prof. Hans-Gerd Maas
Tel.: 0351 463-33680

http://www.tu-dresden.de/ipf/photo/index.htm
http://www.cecs.cl/web/cecs_index.php?area=cecs&dep=glaciologia&idioma=en&pagina=home