Biogeomorphology: sampling and analysis of proglacial and supraglacial vegetation

Herbaceous and arboreal vegetation are useful tools in the study of the landscape transformations affecting glacial areas. In glacier forelands, the study of vegetation succession enables the identification of the age of the deglaciated terrain and contributes to investigation of the distribution of the main geomorphological processes occurring in the area, such as gravitative and glaciofluvial processes. On the surface of debris-covered glaciers, the analysis of the distribution and characteristics of vegetation provides information on the glacier dynamics, such as glacier velocity and the stability of the supraglacial debris. In this chapter, two methodologies for the study of the distribution and characteristics of vegetation in glacial environments are proposed. The first enables a rapid and preliminary investigation of the study area (both in the glacier foreland and at the surface of a debris-covered glacier) through remote sensing analysis, by performing a supervised classification on colour orthophotos. The second method involves detailed field surveys to describe species composition and, when applied to recently deglaciated areas, enables the estimation of terrain age. On the other hand, on debris-covered glaciers the analysis of vegetation, in particular arboreal species, allows the investigation of the past and current glacier dynamics.