Ice loss in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego glaciers during the first two decades of the 21st century

Author(s):  
David Farías ◽  
Philipp Malz ◽  
Thorsten Seehaus ◽  
Christian Sommer ◽  
Lukas Sochor ◽  
...  

<p>Patagonian and Tierra del Fuego Glaciers are among the highest contributors to sea level rise in the Southern Hemisphere. Although this is an area gaining more attention through recent studies, continuous remotely sensed monitoring is only nascent, but crucial for a better understanding of the glacier changes in this region. Here, we present an update of the glacier elevation and mass changes of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego glaciers, applying differential synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry using data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and the German TerraSAR-X-Add-on for Digital Elevation Measurements mission (TanDEM-X). Our study covers the period between 2000 and 2019. Here, we particularly estimated the glacier mass loss regionalized for the Northern and Southern Patagonia Icefield (NPI and SPI) and Tierra del Fuego, which includes the Icefields of Cordillera Darwin and Gran Campo Nevado.</p><p>Our preliminary results indicate mass loss rates of 4.75 ± 0.35 Gt a-1 for NPI for the period of 2000-2019. Results for both other regions will be also presented. Alongside an accuracy assessment based on GNSS field campaign data and satellite laser altimetry.  </p>

1997 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 403-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverley Unwin ◽  
Duncan Wingham

The ice caps of Nordaustlandet, Svalbard, represent one of the largest glaciated areas outside of Antarctica and Greenland. They demonstrate a variety of different flow regimes within a comparatively compact area. We report on the first interferometrically derived elevation models and velocity visualisations of Austfonna. This initial investigation had three purposes: to determine whether the coherence and velocity characteristics of the region permitted interferometric survey; to determine the accuracy of derived elevations; and to assess the possibility of investigating time-variant flow of the more dynamic ice bodies using differential interferometry. A trio of coherent synthetic aperture radar images from ERS-1 ’s First Ice Phase was identified. The images were combined to separate the topographic and velocity components of the resultant interferograms. The topographic phase difference was used to produce a digital elevation model of Austfonna. Its accuracy relative to radio-echo-sounding derived tie-points is 8 m and its resolution 40 m. We also present synoptic views of the velocity field of three of Austfonna’s drainage basins, and comment on the extraction of useful velocity information.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 3016
Author(s):  
Ignacio Borlaf-Mena ◽  
Maurizio Santoro ◽  
Ludovic Villard ◽  
Ovidiu Badea ◽  
Mihai Andrei Tanase

Spaceborne remote sensing can track ecosystems changes thanks to continuous and systematic coverage at short revisit intervals. Active remote sensing from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors allows day and night imaging as they are not affected by cloud cover and solar illumination and can capture unique information about its targets. However, SAR observations are affected by the coupled effect of viewing geometry and terrain topography. The study aims to assess the impact of global digital elevation models (DEMs) on the normalization of Sentinel-1 backscattered intensity and interferometric coherence. For each DEM, we analyzed the difference between orbit tracks, the difference with results obtained with a high-resolution local DEM, and the impact on land cover classification. Tests were carried out at two sites located in mountainous regions in Romania and Spain using the SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, 30 m), AW3D (ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite) World 3D, 30 m), TanDEM-X (12.5, 30, 90 m), and Spain national ALS (aerial laser scanning) based DEM (5 m resolution). The TanDEM-X DEM was the global DEM most suitable for topographic normalization, since it provided the smallest differences between orbital tracks, up to 3.5 dB smaller than with other DEMs for peak landform, and 1.4–1.9 dB for pit and valley landforms.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Amatulli ◽  
Daniel McInerney ◽  
Tushar Sethi ◽  
Peter Strobl ◽  
Sami Domisch

Topographical relief is composed of the vertical and horizontal variations of the Earth's terrain and drives processes in geography, climatology, hydrology, and ecology. Its assessment and characterisation is fundamental for various types of modelling and simulation analyses. In this regard, the Multi-Error-Removed Improved Terrain (MERIT) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is the best global, high-resolution DEM currently available at a 3 arc-seconds (90 m) resolution. This is an improved product as multiple error components have been corrected from the underlying Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM3) and ALOS World 3D - 30 m (AW3D30) DEMs. To depict topographical variations worldwide, we developed the Geomorpho90m dataset comprising of different geomorphometry features derived from the MERIT-DEM. The fully standardised geomorphometry variables consist of layers that describe (i) the rate of change using the first and second order derivatives, (ii) the ruggedness, and (iii) the geomorphology landform. To assess how remaining artefacts in the MERIT-DEM could affect the derived topographic variables, we compared our results with the same variables generated using the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) DEM, which is the highest quality DEM for the United States of America. We compared the two data sources by calculating the first order derivative (i.e., the rate of change through space measured in degrees) of the difference between a MERIT-derived vs. a 3DEP-derived topographic variable. All newly-created topographic variables are readily available at resolutions of 3 and 7.5 arc-seconds under the WGS84 geographic system, and at a spatial resolution of 100 m under the Equi7 projection. The newly-developed Geomorpho90m dataset provides a globally standardised dataset for environmental models and analyses in the field of geography, geology, hydrology, ecology and biogeography.


Author(s):  
Hailu Zewde Abili

DEM can be generated from a wide range of sources including land surveys, Photogrammetry, and Remote sensing satellites. SRTM 30m DEM by The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), the Global Digital Elevation Model by Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflectance Radiometer (ASTER GDEM) and a global surface model called ALOS Worldview 3D 30 meter (AW3D30) by Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) are satellite-based global DEMs open-source DEM datasets. This study aims to assess the vertical accuracy of ASTER GDEM2, SRTM 30m, and ALOS (AW3D30) global DEMs over Ethiopia in the study area-Adama by using DGPS points and available accurate reference DEM data. The method used to evaluate the vertical accuracy of those DEMs ranges from simple visual comparison to relative and absolute comparisons providing quantitative assessment (Statistical) that used the elevation differences between DEM datasets and reference datasets. The result of this assessment showed better accuracy of SRTM 30m DEM (having RMSE of ± 4.63 m) and closely followed by ALOS (AW3D30) DEM which scored RMSE of ± 5.25 m respectively. ASTER GDEM 2 showed the least accuracy by scoring RMSE of ± 11.18 m in the study area. The second accuracy assessment was done by the analysis of derived products such as slope and drainage networks. This also resulted in a better quality of DEM derived products for SRTM than ALOS DEM and ASTER GDEM.


1997 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 403-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverley Unwin ◽  
Duncan Wingham

The ice caps of Nordaustlandet, Svalbard, represent one of the largest glaciated areas outside of Antarctica and Greenland. They demonstrate a variety of different flow regimes within a comparatively compact area. We report on the first interferometrically derived elevation models and velocity visualisations of Austfonna. This initial investigation had three purposes: to determine whether the coherence and velocity characteristics of the region permitted interferometric survey; to determine the accuracy of derived elevations; and to assess the possibility of investigating time-variant flow of the more dynamic ice bodies using differential interferometry. A trio of coherent synthetic aperture radar images from ERS-1 ’s First Ice Phase was identified. The images were combined to separate the topographic and velocity components of the resultant interferograms. The topographic phase difference was used to produce a digital elevation model of Austfonna. Its accuracy relative to radio-echo-sounding derived tie-points is 8 m and its resolution 40 m. We also present synoptic views of the velocity field of three of Austfonna’s drainage basins, and comment on the extraction of useful velocity information.


2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Woroszkiewicz ◽  
Ireneusz Ewiak ◽  
Paulina Lulkowska

Abstract The TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement (TanDEM-X) mission launched in 2010 is another programme – after the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) in 2000 – that uses space-borne radar interferometry to build a global digital surface model. This article presents the accuracy assessment of the TanDEM-X intermediate Digital Elevation Model (IDEM) provided by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) under the project “Accuracy assessment of a Digital Elevation Model based on TanDEM-X data” for the southwestern territory of Poland. The study area included: open terrain, urban terrain and forested terrain. Based on a set of 17,498 reference points acquired by airborne laser scanning, the mean errors of average heights and standard deviations were calculated for areas with a terrain slope below 2 degrees, between 2 and 6 degrees and above 6 degrees. The absolute accuracy of the IDEM data for the analysed area, expressed as a root mean square error (Total RMSE), was 0.77 m.


Polar Record ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Jennifer Schneevoigt ◽  
Monica Sund ◽  
Wiley Bogren ◽  
Andreas Kääb ◽  
Dan Johan Weydahl

ABSTRACTDifferential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (DInSAR) exploits the coherence between the phases of two or more satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) scenes taken from the same orbit to separate the phase contributions from topography and movement by subtracting either phase. Hence pure terrain displacement can be derived without residual height information in it, but only the component of movement in line-of-sight direction is represented in a differential interferogram. Comfortlessbreen, a recently surging glacier, flows predominantly in this direction with respect to the European Remote Sensing satellites ERS-1 and ERS-2. Four C-band SAR scenes from spring 1996 were selected because of the high coherence between the respective pairs of the 1-day repeat-pass tandem mission of the ERS sensors. 2-pass DInSAR is performed in combination with a SPOT5 (Satéllite pour l'Observation de la Terre 5) SPIRIT (SPOT5 stereoscopic survey of Polar Ice: Reference Images and Topography) digital elevation model (DEM) from 2007. The different processing steps and intermediate image products, including unwrapping and generation of displacement maps, are detailed in order to convey the DInSAR processing chain to the beginner in the field of interferometry. Maximum horizontal displacements of 18 to 20 cm d−1 in ground range direction can be detected at the glacier terminus, while a few centimetres per day characterised most of the middle and upper portions of Comfortlessbreen in spring 1996.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leandro Luiz Silva de França ◽  
Alex de Lima Teodoro da Penha ◽  
João Alberto Batista de Carvalho

Abstract This paper presents a comparative study between the absolute and relative methods for altimetric positional accuracy of Digital Elevation Models (DEM). For the theoretical basis of this research, the definitions of accuracy (exactness) and precision, as well the concepts related to absolute and relative positional accuracy were explored. In the case study, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) DEM were used. In the analysis of the absolute accuracy, 6,568 ground control points from GNSS orbital survey were used, collected through relative-static method. In the relative accuracy, it was used as reference DEM with spatial resolution of 5 meters generated by stereophotogrammetrical process for the Mapping Project of Bahia (Brazil). It was concluded that, once the accuracy of the reference DEM is better than the other two evaluated DEM, the results of the classification for the PEC-PCD for the relative evaluation are equal to or better than the absolute evaluation results, with the advantage to being able to verify the pixel population of the evaluated models, which makes it possible to identify outliers, distortions and displacements, including delimiting regions, which is much less likely with a limited set of control points.


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