Dataset Information

Glacier ablation and temperature indexed melt models in the Nepalese Himalaya.

ABSTRACT: Temperature index (TI) models are convenient for modelling glacier ablation since they require only a few input variables and rely on simple empirical relations. The approach is generally assumed to be reliable at lower elevations (below 3500?m above sea level, a.s.l) where air temperature (Ta) relates well to the energy inputs driving melt. We question this approach in High Mountain Asia (HMA). We study in-situ meteorological drivers of glacial ablation at two sites in central Nepal, between 2013 and 2017, using data from six automatic weather stations (AWS). During the monsoon, surface melt dominates ablation processes at lower elevations (between 4950 and 5380?m a.s.l.). As net shortwave radiation (SWnet) is the main energy input at the glacier surface, albedo (?) and cloudiness play key roles while being highly variable in space and time. For these cases only, ablation can be calculated with a TI model, or with an Enhanced TI (ETI) model that includes a shortwave radiation (SW) scheme and site specific ablation factors. In the ablation zone during other seasons and during all seasons in the accumulation zone, sublimation and other wind-driven ablation processes also contribute to mass loss, and remain unresolved with TI or ETI methods.

SUBMITTER: Litt M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6437175 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Glacier ablation and temperature indexed melt models in the Nepalese Himalaya.

Litt Maxime M Shea Joseph J Wagnon Patrick P Steiner Jakob J Koch Inka I Stigter Emmy E Immerzeel Walter W

Scientific reports 20190327 1

Temperature index (TI) models are convenient for modelling glacier ablation since they require only a few input variables and rely on simple empirical relations. The approach is generally assumed to be reliable at lower elevations (below 3500 m above sea level, a.s.l) where air temperature (T<sub>a</sub>) relates well to the energy inputs driving melt. We question this approach in High Mountain Asia (HMA). We study in-situ meteorological drivers of glacial ablation at two sites in central Nepal, ...[more]

PMID: 30918290

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Project description:Radiofrequency ablation is the most common minimally invasive therapy used in the United States to treat hepatocellular carcinoma and liver metastases. The ability to perform real-time temperature imaging while a patient is undergoing ablation therapy may help reduce the high recurrence rates following ablation therapy. Ultrasound echo signals undergo time shifts with increasing temperature due to sound speed and thermal expansion, which are tracked using both 1D cross correlation and 2D block matching based speckle tracking methods. In this paper, we present a quantitative evaluation of the accuracy and precision of temperature estimation using the above algorithms on both simulated and experimental data. A finite element analysis simulation of radiofrequency ablation of hepatic tissue was developed. Finite element analysis provides a method to obtain the exact temperature distribution along with a mapping of the tissue displacement due to thermal expansion. These local displacement maps were combined with the displacement due to speed of sound changes and utilized to generate ultrasound radiofrequency frames at specified time increments over the entire ablation procedure. These echo signals provide an ideal test-bed to evaluate the performance of both speckle tracking methods, since the estimated temperature results can be compared directly to the exact finite element solution. Our results indicate that the 1D cross-correlation (CC) method underestimates the cumulative displacement by 0.20mm, while the underestimation with 2D block matching (BM) is about 0.14 mm after 360 s of ablation. The 1D method also overestimates the size of the ablated region by 5.4% when compared to 2.4% with the 2D method after 720 s of ablation. Hence 2D block matching provides better tracking of temperature variations when compared to the 1D cross-correlation method over the entire duration of the ablation procedure. In addition, results obtained using 1D cross-correlation diverge from the ideal finite element results after 7 min of ablation and for temperatures greater than 65 degrees C. In a similar manner, experimental results presented using a tissue-mimicking phantom also demonstrate that the maximum percent difference with 2D block matching was 5%, when compared to 31% with the 1D method over the 700 s heating duration on the phantom.

Dataset Information

Glacier ablation and temperature indexed melt models in the Nepalese Himalaya.

Publications

Glacier ablation and temperature indexed melt models in the Nepalese Himalaya.

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