Seasonal climatic forcing of alpine glaciers revealed with orbital synthetic aperture radar
Abstract The evolution of four dynamic radar glacier zones at the surface of an alpine icefield in British Columbia is monitored using a time series of 35 First European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired from 1992 to 1994. These zones result from changin...
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Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1997
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000035085 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000035085 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0022143000035085 2024-03-03T08:46:02+00:00 Seasonal climatic forcing of alpine glaciers revealed with orbital synthetic aperture radar Smith, Laurence C. Forster, Richard R. Isacks, Bryan L. Hall, Dorothy K. 1997 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000035085 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000035085 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) Journal of Glaciology volume 43, issue 145, page 480-488 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 Earth-Surface Processes journal-article 1997 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000035085 2024-02-08T08:41:37Z Abstract The evolution of four dynamic radar glacier zones at the surface of an alpine icefield in British Columbia is monitored using a time series of 35 First European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired from 1992 to 1994. These zones result from changing wetness and textural properties, and appear to represent: (1) cold snow with no liquid water present; (2) an initial melt front with an upper boundary near the elevation of the 0° isotherm; (3) metamorphosed, rapidly melting first-year snow with a rough or pitted surface; and (4) bare ice. This interpretation is aided by temperature and runoff data, air photographs and field measurements of snowpack properties acquired with two ERS-1 SAR scenes, ice-surface elevations derived from 1:50 000 topographic maps and simulations of radar backscatter from a geometric optics model of surface scattering. Meltwater production is affected by the development of zones (2), (3) and (4), which form, migrate up-elevation and disappear each year between April and September. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Cambridge University Press Journal of Glaciology 43 145 480 488 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth-Surface Processes |
spellingShingle |
Earth-Surface Processes Smith, Laurence C. Forster, Richard R. Isacks, Bryan L. Hall, Dorothy K. Seasonal climatic forcing of alpine glaciers revealed with orbital synthetic aperture radar |
topic_facet |
Earth-Surface Processes |
description |
Abstract The evolution of four dynamic radar glacier zones at the surface of an alpine icefield in British Columbia is monitored using a time series of 35 First European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired from 1992 to 1994. These zones result from changing wetness and textural properties, and appear to represent: (1) cold snow with no liquid water present; (2) an initial melt front with an upper boundary near the elevation of the 0° isotherm; (3) metamorphosed, rapidly melting first-year snow with a rough or pitted surface; and (4) bare ice. This interpretation is aided by temperature and runoff data, air photographs and field measurements of snowpack properties acquired with two ERS-1 SAR scenes, ice-surface elevations derived from 1:50 000 topographic maps and simulations of radar backscatter from a geometric optics model of surface scattering. Meltwater production is affected by the development of zones (2), (3) and (4), which form, migrate up-elevation and disappear each year between April and September. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, Laurence C. Forster, Richard R. Isacks, Bryan L. Hall, Dorothy K. |
author_facet |
Smith, Laurence C. Forster, Richard R. Isacks, Bryan L. Hall, Dorothy K. |
author_sort |
Smith, Laurence C. |
title |
Seasonal climatic forcing of alpine glaciers revealed with orbital synthetic aperture radar |
title_short |
Seasonal climatic forcing of alpine glaciers revealed with orbital synthetic aperture radar |
title_full |
Seasonal climatic forcing of alpine glaciers revealed with orbital synthetic aperture radar |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal climatic forcing of alpine glaciers revealed with orbital synthetic aperture radar |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal climatic forcing of alpine glaciers revealed with orbital synthetic aperture radar |
title_sort |
seasonal climatic forcing of alpine glaciers revealed with orbital synthetic aperture radar |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1997 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000035085 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000035085 |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 43, issue 145, page 480-488 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000035085 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
145 |
container_start_page |
480 |
op_container_end_page |
488 |
_version_ |
1792501868820168704 |