The relationship between time since deglaciation and the reflectance of glacial forelands

Glacial recession rates can be reconstructed by conducting physiochemical a nd ecological surveys of glacial forelands and can be determined by analysi s of the distribution and composition of successional vegetation. This latt er method is used in this study, which illustrates that a basic vegetation index such as a near-infrared/red ratio, obtained from ground-based reflect ivity measurements with a Milton Multiband Radiometer (MMR) for individual foreland moraines, correlates well with the age of the moraines. This sugge sts that ground, airborne, or spaceborne remotely sensed data, when obtaine d with established ground-based observations, may facilitate the spatial de termination of glacial recession. It does not aim to replace existing techn iques but explores the potential for a rapid synoptic assessment of glacial foreland chronosequences in conjunction with conventional groundbased tech niques of age determination. (C)Elsevier Science Inc., 1999.