Articles | Volume 18, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6493-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6493-2025
Research article
 | 
13 Nov 2025
Research article |  | 13 Nov 2025

Atmospheric sounding of the boundary layer over alpine glaciers using fixed-wing UAVs

Alexander R. Groos, Nicolas Brand, Murat Bronz, and Andreas Philipp

Related authors

Brief Communication: Inferring Glacier Equilibrium Line Altitudes in Central Europe with FROST
Oskar Herrmann, Veena Prasad, Anna Zöller, Alexander R. Groos, Samuel Cook, Christian Sommer, and Johannes J. Fürst
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5486,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5486, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
Short summary
Investigating firn structure and density in the accumulation area of the Grosser Aletschgletscher using ground-penetrating radar
Akash M. Patil, Christoph Mayer, Thorsten Seehaus, Alexander R. Groos, and Andreas Bauder
The Cryosphere, 19, 5547–5577, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5547-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5547-2025, 2025
Short summary
DCG-MIP: The Debris-Covered Glacier melt Model Intercomparison exPeriment
Francesca Pellicciotti, Adrià Fontrodona-Bach, David R. Rounce, Catriona L. Fyffe, Leif S. Anderson, Álvaro Ayala, Ben W. Brock, Pascal Buri, Stefan Fugger, Koji Fujita, Prateek Gantayat, Alexander R. Groos, Walter Immerzeel, Marin Kneib, Christoph Mayer, Shelley MacDonell, Michael McCarthy, James McPhee, Evan Miles, Heather Purdie, Ekaterina Rets, Akiko Sakai, Thomas E. Shaw, Jakob Steiner, Patrick Wagnon, and Alex Winter-Billington
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3837,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3837, 2025
Short summary
A low-cost and open-source approach for supraglacial debris thickness mapping using UAV-based infrared thermography
Jérôme Messmer and Alexander Raphael Groos
The Cryosphere, 18, 719–746, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-719-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-719-2024, 2024
Short summary
An hourly ground temperature dataset for 16 high-elevation sites (3493–4377 m a.s.l.) in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia (2017–2020)
Alexander R. Groos, Janik Niederhauser, Bruk Lemma, Mekbib Fekadu, Wolfgang Zech, Falk Hänsel, Luise Wraase, Naki Akçar, and Heinz Veit
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1043–1062, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1043-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1043-2022, 2022
Short summary

Cited articles

Bonin, T. A., Chilson, P. B., Zielke, B. S., Klein, P. M., and Leeman, J. R.: Comparison and application of wind retrieval algorithms for small unmanned aerial systems, Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 2, 177–187, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-2-177-2013, 2013. a
Bronz, M., Tal, E., Favalli, F., and Karaman, S.: Mission-Oriented Additive Manufacturing of Modular Mini-UAVs, in: AIAA Scitech 2020 Forum, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Orlando, FL, 1–11, ISBN 978-1-62410-595-1, https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2020-0064, 2020. a
Cassano, J. J.: Observations of atmospheric boundary layer temperature profiles with a small unmanned aerial vehicle, Antarctic Science, 26, 205–213, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102013000539, 2014. a
Cassano, J. J., Seefeldt, M. W., Palo, S., Knuth, S. L., Bradley, A. C., Herrman, P. D., Kernebone, P. A., and Logan, N. J.: Observations of the atmosphere and surface state over Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica, using unmanned aerial systems, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 8, 115–126, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-115-2016, 2016. a, b, c
DWD: Aspirations-Psychrometer-Tafeln, Vieweg & Sohn Verlagsgesellschaft, Braunschweig, ISBN 3-528-18231-8, 1976. a
Download
Short summary
We have developed a low-cost, lightweight, and open-source fixed-wing drone to study vertical changes in air temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed, wind direction and turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer over mountain glaciers. The results of four measurement campaigns on a glacier in the Swiss Alps demonstrate the potential of the new measurement technique and reveal characteristic insights into glacier-atmosphere interactions and the mountain-valley wind circulation.
Share