Recent changes (1988-2018) in ice-marginal environments of the King George and Nelson Island ice-free land areas, Maritime Antarctica

This study aims to compare the glacial lake variation in 1988-2018 period by ice-free land sector in King George Island (KGI) and Nelson Island (NI). Lake sectors were grouped by multivariate statistics techniques. Areal lake and glacier evolution are estimated by Landsat and Sentinel images segmentation and NDWI (was obtained 68-77% of the accuracy) and using others spaceborne remote sensing data. Wanda, Vieville, Znosco e Anna Sul ice-marginal lakes have increased by 636%, 214%, 173% and 110%, respectively. The lower variation (83%, 71%, 68%, 43% and 20%) were showed in lakes of the ice-free land areas exposed by shrinkage in Baranowski Glacier, Polar Club Glacier, NI ice cap, Fourcade Glacier and in Fildes Peninsula, respectively. Were detected the formation of 37 new glacial lakes in the 1988-2018 period. The climate warming, meltwater retention due glacier discharge and coalescence of small and shallow lakes too play important roles in ice-marginal lakes evolution at decadal-scale variations.