Glacier and Ice Field Mapping - 2021 - Airborne Coastal Observatory

The climate of BC’s South and Central Coast makes it particularly sensitive to climate change,
with comparatively warmer winters than continental environments. The BC coast’s extreme
elevation gradients, however, may provide some resilience in certain watersheds with high
elevations and extensive glacier coverage. Better characterization of snow and glacier coverage
will improve our ability to observe long-term change, develop and improve existing hydrological
models, and provide guidance to local communities who will need to adapt. A better
understanding of glaciers and seasonal snow will likewise assist the oceanographic community
who use freshwater flux data to model ocean currents, predict plankton blooms and assess the
health of fish stocks.
A primary mission of the ACO to map and monitor change to regional glaciers and basin snow
cover. Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging), high-resolution imagery, and hyperspectral imagery
are combined with field observations to measure changes in seasonal snow cover and glacier
mass loss.
Over the longer term, the Hakai coastal margin observatory establishes routine monitoring of
snow inputs across British Columbia’s Mountains. The importance of snow vs. rain changes
dramatically across the central coast. Snow is a fundamental input variable for watershed
modelling, for understanding why watersheds across this gradient have different export
characteristics, and for monitoring watershed response to changing weather and climate. The
ACO based work is part of a larger initiative with ground sampling and sensor networks used
the validate measurements.
Hakai’s Airborne Coastal Observatory was developed to map and monitor icefields to oceans by
using a combination of airborne Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging), high-resolution imagery,
and hyperspectral imagery. Combined, the ACO sensors provide data to quantify changes in
seasonal snow cover and glacier mass loss.
The ACO is an aerial remote sensing platform used by the Hakai Institute to survey landscapes
in detail. A Piper Navajo aircraft carries an array of integrated airborne mapping sensors
installed to collect data in concert. The aircraft is operated and maintained by Kisik Aerial
Surveys (Delta, BC).