scholarly journals Antarctic Ice-Shelf Boundaries and Elevations From Satellite Radar Altimetry

1987 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 229-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.J. Zwally ◽  
S.N. Stephenson ◽  
R.A. Bindschadler ◽  
R.H. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Landsat Imagery ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Radar Altimetry ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Grounding Line ◽  
Fast Ice ◽  
Ice Velocity ◽  
Satellite Radar ◽  
Satellite Radar Altimetry

As part of a systematic analysis of Seasat radar altimetry data to obtain Antarctic ice fronts and ice-shelf elevations north of lat. 72° S., Fimbulisen (between long. 12°W. and 08°E.) and the Amery Ice Shelf (around long. 72°E.) are mapped. Interactive computer analysis is used to examine and correct the altimetry range measurements and derive the ice-front positions. Surface elevations and ice-front positions from radar altimetry are compared with ice fronts, ice rises, crevasse zones, and grounding lines identified in Landsat imagery. By comparison of the visible features in imagery and the computer-contoured elevations from radar altimetry, the radar-elevation mapping on some ice rises is confirmed, but some spurious contours are also identified. During the interval between the 1974 Landsat imagery and the 1978 radar altimetry, the central part of the Amery Ice Shelf front advanced 1.5 ± 0.6 km/a, which is in agreement with the ice-velocity measurements of 1.1 ± 0.1 km/a (Budd and others 1982), suggesting negligible calving in the central part of the ice shelf. The undulating surface and small mean slope from the grounding line to about lat. 70°S. suggest a zone of partial grounding similar to Rutford Ice Stream, On Fimbulisen, some previously unmapped ice rises are identified. The ridge of the Jutul-straumen ice tongue is shown to be about 20 m above the surrounding ice and laterally expanding as it flows northward to the ice front. Icebergs within the sea ice and a zone of shore-fast ice are also identified with the same technique used to map the ice-shelf front.

scholarly journals Antarctic Ice-Shelf Boundaries and Elevations From Satellite Radar Altimetry

1987 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 229-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.J. Zwally ◽  
S.N. Stephenson ◽  
R.A. Bindschadler ◽  
R.H. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Landsat Imagery ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Radar Altimetry ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Grounding Line ◽  
Fast Ice ◽  
Ice Velocity ◽  
Satellite Radar ◽  
Satellite Radar Altimetry

As part of a systematic analysis of Seasat radar altimetry data to obtain Antarctic ice fronts and ice-shelf elevations north of lat. 72° S., Fimbulisen (between long. 12°W. and 08°E.) and the Amery Ice Shelf (around long. 72°E.) are mapped. Interactive computer analysis is used to examine and correct the altimetry range measurements and derive the ice-front positions. Surface elevations and ice-front positions from radar altimetry are compared with ice fronts, ice rises, crevasse zones, and grounding lines identified in Landsat imagery. By comparison of the visible features in imagery and the computer-contoured elevations from radar altimetry, the radar-elevation mapping on some ice rises is confirmed, but some spurious contours are also identified. During the interval between the 1974 Landsat imagery and the 1978 radar altimetry, the central part of the Amery Ice Shelf front advanced 1.5 ± 0.6 km/a, which is in agreement with the ice-velocity measurements of 1.1 ± 0.1 km/a (Budd and others 1982), suggesting negligible calving in the central part of the ice shelf. The undulating surface and small mean slope from the grounding line to about lat. 70°S. suggest a zone of partial grounding similar to Rutford Ice Stream, On Fimbulisen, some previously unmapped ice rises are identified. The ridge of the Jutul-straumen ice tongue is shown to be about 20 m above the surrounding ice and laterally expanding as it flows northward to the ice front. Icebergs within the sea ice and a zone of shore-fast ice are also identified with the same technique used to map the ice-shelf front.

scholarly journals Ice-Shelf Topography and Structure Determined Using Satellite-Radar Altimetry and Landsat Imagery

1989 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 162-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon N. Stephenson ◽  
H. Jay Zwally
Keyword(s):  
Flow Line ◽  
Landsat Imagery ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Radar Altimetry ◽  
Ice Shelves ◽  
Contour Maps ◽  
Sketch Maps ◽  
Satellite Radar ◽  
Remote Sensing Techniques ◽  
Satellite Radar Altimetry

The glaciological structure and dynamics of West and Shackleton Ice Shelves, East Antarctica, are qualitatively determined using a combination of satellite remote-sensing techniques. Sketch maps traced from unenhanced imagery show the ice edge, grounding lines, flow lines, and rifts. Surface-elevation profiles and contour maps from radar altimetry provide free-board elevations of the floating ice and show flow-line undulations and rumples characteristic of grounded ice. West and Shackleton Ice Shelves consist of a combination of fast-moving ice tongues from outlet glaciers and slow-moving parts constrained by islands, ice rises, and ice rumples.

scholarly journals Ice-Shelf Topography and Structure Determined Using Satellite-Radar Altimetry and Landsat Imagery

1989 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 162-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon N. Stephenson ◽  
H. Jay Zwally
Keyword(s):  
Flow Line ◽  
Landsat Imagery ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Radar Altimetry ◽  
Ice Shelves ◽  
Contour Maps ◽  
Sketch Maps ◽  
Satellite Radar ◽  
Remote Sensing Techniques ◽  
Satellite Radar Altimetry

The glaciological structure and dynamics of West and Shackleton Ice Shelves, East Antarctica, are qualitatively determined using a combination of satellite remote-sensing techniques. Sketch maps traced from unenhanced imagery show the ice edge, grounding lines, flow lines, and rifts. Surface-elevation profiles and contour maps from radar altimetry provide free-board elevations of the floating ice and show flow-line undulations and rumples characteristic of grounded ice. West and Shackleton Ice Shelves consist of a combination of fast-moving ice tongues from outlet glaciers and slow-moving parts constrained by islands, ice rises, and ice rumples.

scholarly journals Recent advance of the grounding line of Lambert Glacier, Antarctica, deduced from satellite-radar altimetry

1994 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 43-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute C. Herzfeld ◽  
Craig S. Lingle ◽  
Li-Her Lee
Keyword(s):  
Ordinary Kriging ◽  
Altimeter Data ◽  
Fine Scale ◽  
Radar Altimeter ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Grounding Line ◽  
Satellite Radar ◽  
Lambert Glacier ◽  
Satellite Radar Altimetry

Satellite radar-altimeter data from Seasat (1978) and the Geosat Exact Repeat Mission (1987–89) are evaluated to investigate the question of advance or retreat of Lambert Glacier, Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. New maps based on a fine-scale 3 km grid arc calculated using ordinary kriging. The break in slope at the 100 m elevation contour, relative to the WGS 1984 ellipsoid, is taken as a proxy for the grounding line. Measurements indicate that the irregular grounding line, which includes shoals, advanced approximately 10km between 1978 and 1987‐89, corresponding to a mean advance rate of about 1000 m year-1.

scholarly journals Recent advance of the grounding line of Lambert Glacier, Antarctica, deduced from satellite-radar altimetry

1994 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 43-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute C. Herzfeld ◽  
Craig S. Lingle ◽  
Li-Her Lee
Keyword(s):  
Ordinary Kriging ◽  
Altimeter Data ◽  
Fine Scale ◽  
Radar Altimeter ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Grounding Line ◽  
Satellite Radar ◽  
Lambert Glacier ◽  
Satellite Radar Altimetry

Satellite radar-altimeter data from Seasat (1978) and the Geosat Exact Repeat Mission (1987–89) are evaluated to investigate the question of advance or retreat of Lambert Glacier, Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. New maps based on a fine-scale 3 km grid arc calculated using ordinary kriging. The break in slope at the 100 m elevation contour, relative to the WGS 1984 ellipsoid, is taken as a proxy for the grounding line. Measurements indicate that the irregular grounding line, which includes shoals, advanced approximately 10km between 1978 and 1987‐89, corresponding to a mean advance rate of about 1000 m year-1.

scholarly journals Geostatistical evaluation of satellite radar altimetry for high-resolution mapping of Lambert Glacier, Antarctica

1993 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 77-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute C. Herzfeld ◽  
Craig S. Lingle ◽  
Li-Her Lee
Keyword(s):  
Noise Levels ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
High Resolution Mapping ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Resolution Mapping ◽  
Satellite Radar ◽  
Along Track ◽  
Lambert Glacier ◽  
Inland Ice ◽  
Satellite Radar Altimetry

The potential of satellite radar altimetry for high-resolution mapping of Antarctic ice streams is evaluated, using retracked and slope-corrected data from the Lambert Glacier and Amery Ice Shelf area, East Antarctica, acquired by Geosat during the Exact Repeat Mission (ERM), 1986–89. The map area includes lower Lambert Glacier north of 72.18°S, the southern Amery Ice Shelf, and the grounded inland ice sheet on both sides. The Geosat ERM altimetry is found to provide substantially more complete coverage than the 1978 Seasat altimetry, due to improved tracking. Variogram methods are used to estimate the noise levels in the data as a function of position throughout the map area. The spatial structure in the data is quantified by constructing experimental variograms using altimetry from the area of the grounding zone of Lambert Glacier, which is the area chiefly of interest in this topographically complex region. Kriging is employed to invert the along-track height measurements onto a fine-scale 3 km grid. The unsmoothed along-track Geosat ERM altimetry yields spatially continuous maps showing the main topographic features of lower Lambert Glacier, upper Amery Ice Shelf and the adjacent inland ice sheet. The probable position of the grounding line of Lambert Glacier is identified from a break in slope at the grounded ice/floating ice transition. The approximate standard error of the kriged map is inferred from the data noise levels.

scholarly journals Digital elevation models for the Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf system, East Antarctica, from ERS-1 satellite radar altimetry

2000 ◽  
Vol 46 (155) ◽  
pp. 553-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen A. Fricker ◽  
Glenn Hyland ◽  
Richard Coleman ◽  
Neal W. Young
Keyword(s):  
Digital Elevation Models ◽  
Radar Altimeter ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Waveform Data ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Satellite Radar ◽  
Lambert Glacier ◽  
Satellite Radar Altimetry ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThe Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf system is a major component of the East Antarctic ice sheet. This paper presents two digital elevation models (DEMs) that have been generated for the Lambert–Amery system from validated European Remote-sensing Satellite (ERS-1) radar altimeter waveform data. The first DEM covers the Amery Ice Shelf only, and was produced using kriging on a 1 km grid. The second is a coarser (5 km) DEM of the entire Lambert–Amery system, generated via simple averaging procedures. The DEMs provide unprecedented surface elevation information for the Lambert–Amery system and allow new insight into the glaciology of the region.

scholarly journals Evidence for rapid retreat and mass loss of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica

2001 ◽  
Vol 47 (157) ◽  
pp. 213-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Rignot
Keyword(s):  
Ice Thickness ◽  
Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar ◽  
West Antarctica ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Amundsen Sea ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Grounding Line ◽  
Satellite Radar ◽  
Inland Ice ◽  
Satellite Radar Altimetry

AbstractThwaites Glacier, the second largest ice stream in West Antarctica, drains an area of 166 500 ± 2000 km2 which accumulates 55 ± 5 Gt a−1 (or 60 ± 6 km3 ice a−1) into the Amundsen Sea, unrestrained by an ice shelf. Using interferometric synthetic-aperture radar (InSAR) data collected by the European Remote-sensing Satellites (ERS-1 and -2) in 1996, an output flux of 71 ±7 Gt a−1 (or 77 ± 8 km3 ice a−1) is estimated at the grounding line, where ice thickness is deduced from hydrostatic equilibrium. A similar flux, 70 ± 7 Gt a−1 (or 76 ± 8 km3 ice a−1), is obtained at a gate located 20 km upstream, where ice thickness was measured in 1978 by ice-sounding radar. Total accumulation in between the two gates is 1.6 Gt a−1, or 1.8 km3 ice a−1. Ice discharge therefore exceeds mass accumulation by 30 ± 15%, and Thwaites Glacier must be thinning and retreating at present. The InSAR data show that the glacier floating ice tongue exerts no back pressure on the inland ice, calves into tabular icebergs along a significant fraction of its grounding line, and has a grounding-line thickness which exceeds a prior-calculated limit for stability. Glacier thinning is confirmed at the coast by the detection of a 1.4 ± 0.2 km retreat of its grounding line between 1992 and 1996 with InSAR, which implies 3.2 ± 0.6 m ice a−1 thinning at the glacier center and less near the sides. These results complement the decimeter-scale annual surface lowering observed with satellite radar altimetry several hundred km inland of the grounding line. The magnitude of ice thinning estimated at the coast, however, rules out temporal changes in accumulation as the explanation for surface lowering. Ice thinning must be due to changes in ice flow.

scholarly journals Geostatistical evaluation of satellite radar altimetry for high-resolution mapping of Lambert Glacier, Antarctica

1993 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 77-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute C. Herzfeld ◽  
Craig S. Lingle ◽  
Li-Her Lee
Keyword(s):  
Noise Levels ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
High Resolution Mapping ◽  
Amery Ice Shelf ◽  
Resolution Mapping ◽  
Satellite Radar ◽  
Along Track ◽  
Lambert Glacier ◽  
Inland Ice ◽  
Satellite Radar Altimetry

The potential of satellite radar altimetry for high-resolution mapping of Antarctic ice streams is evaluated, using retracked and slope-corrected data from the Lambert Glacier and Amery Ice Shelf area, East Antarctica, acquired by Geosat during the Exact Repeat Mission (ERM), 1986–89. The map area includes lower Lambert Glacier north of 72.18°S, the southern Amery Ice Shelf, and the grounded inland ice sheet on both sides. The Geosat ERM altimetry is found to provide substantially more complete coverage than the 1978 Seasat altimetry, due to improved tracking. Variogram methods are used to estimate the noise levels in the data as a function of position throughout the map area. The spatial structure in the data is quantified by constructing experimental variograms using altimetry from the area of the grounding zone of Lambert Glacier, which is the area chiefly of interest in this topographically complex region. Kriging is employed to invert the along-track height measurements onto a fine-scale 3 km grid. The unsmoothed along-track Geosat ERM altimetry yields spatially continuous maps showing the main topographic features of lower Lambert Glacier, upper Amery Ice Shelf and the adjacent inland ice sheet. The probable position of the grounding line of Lambert Glacier is identified from a break in slope at the grounded ice/floating ice transition. The approximate standard error of the kriged map is inferred from the data noise levels.

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