A low-cost surface ablation monitoring system using wind-induced motion of mass-balance stakes
A low-cost surface ablation monitoring system using wind-induced motion of mass-balance stakes
Felix St-Amour, Hsin Cynthia Chiang, Jamie Cox, Eamon Egan, Ian Hendricksen, Jacob Rodrigo, Jonathan Sievers, and Laura Thomson
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 15, 227–236, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-15-227-2026, 2026
Glacier surface melt is often studied by measuring the exposed length of vertical stakes that are partially embedded in the ice. We present new autonomous instrumentation that monitors this exposed length continuously by measuring wind-induced vibrations in the stake. Initial lab and field tests show that this measurement technique yields centimetre-level precision. Our instrumentation, which is low-cost, opens new possibilities for enabling automated measurements on large numbers of stakes.