GLACIERS AND ICE SHEETS IN A CHANGING CLIMATE

Spaceborne synthetic-aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) is a powerful remote sensing tool for measuring glacial motion with
millimeter-scale precision, over extensive areas, at an unprecedented level of spatial details. This technique has been used to map
the detailed topography and vector velocity of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets,  the tidally-induced vertical motion of
large areas of floating ice, and study rift propagation precursor to large calving events on Antarctic ice shelves. The results are an
important source of information for determining the current state of mass balance of outlet glaciers and ice sheets,  for estimating
their contribution to sea level rise, for capturing dynamic changes such as grounding-line retreat and flow acceleration, for predicting
future calving events, and eventually better constraint predictions of the evolution of those ice masses in a changing climate.
 

Left   panel : Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica from helicopter (Courtesy of T. Kellog and T. Hughes, University of Maine at Orono, 1985)
Right panel : ERS differential interferogram of Pine Island Glacier showing the extent of floating glacier ice in 1996). (Rignot, 1998).

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What is InSAR ?

Glaciology Research in Antarctica, Patagonia and Greenland.

• Ice velocity, discharge, and mass balance of northern Greenland glaciers from InSAR (PARCA program)
• The Patagonia Icefields imaged by SIR-C in 1994.
• Ice-shelf dynamics near the front of Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica
• Grounding line studies of Rutford Ice Stream, Carlson Inlet and Evans Ice Stream, West Antarctica
• Grounding line studies of Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica
• Rock glacier motion in the Dry Valleys, Antarctica
• Compilation of grounding-line ice discharge in Antarctica (in preparation)
• Basal melting of Antarctic Ice Shelves. (in preparation)
• Remote Sensing Studies of Pine Island Glacier. (in preparation)
• The NASA/NSF Petermann Project (2002-2004) (in progress).
• Studies of rift propagation on the Ronne/Filchner Ice Shelves prior to the 1998 calving events (in progress).

Field Work (in preparation) ...

• Patagonia
• Petermann Gletscher 2002

References

• List of References
• Papers online (pdf)

Data (in preparation) ...

• Greenland.
• Antarctica.
• Patagonia

Useful Links

• European Space Agency
• NASA RAMP Project at OSU
• NASA Airborne Laser Altimeter at NASA/Wallops
• NASA Airborne Ice Sounding Radar at University of Kansas, Lawrence
• NASA/JPL Polar Oceanography
• NASA/JPL Imaging Radar Home Page
• NASA's Earth Science Enterprise
• NASA Alaska SAR Facility
• NSF West Antarctic Initiative
• Byrd Polar Pointers

For more information