Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry
The delineation of an ice sheet grounding line, i.e., the transition boundary where ice detaches from the bed and becomes afloat in the ocean, is critical to ice sheet mass budget calculations, numerical modeling of ice sheet dynamics, iceocean interactions, oceanic tides, and subglacial environment...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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Language: | English |
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ftcdlib:qt08c3z11p 2023-05-15T13:58:54+02:00 Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry Rignot, E Mouginot, J Scheuchl, B 2011-05-01 application/pdf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/08c3z11p english eng eScholarship, University of California qt08c3z11p http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/08c3z11p Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ CC-BY Rignot, E; Mouginot, J; & Scheuchl, B. (2011). Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry. Geophysical Research Letters, 38(10). doi:10.1029/2011GL047109. UC Irvine: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/08c3z11p article 2011 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GL047109 2017-10-13T22:51:50Z The delineation of an ice sheet grounding line, i.e., the transition boundary where ice detaches from the bed and becomes afloat in the ocean, is critical to ice sheet mass budget calculations, numerical modeling of ice sheet dynamics, iceocean interactions, oceanic tides, and subglacial environments. Here, we present 15 years of comprehensive, high-resolution mapping of grounding lines in Antarctica using differential satellite synthetic-aperture radar interferometry (DInSAR) data from the Earth Remote Sensing Satellites 1-2 (ERS-1/2), RADARSAT-1 and 2, and the Advanced Land Observing System (ALOS) PALSAR for years 1994 to 2009. DInSAR directly measures the vertical motion of floating ice shelves in response to tidal oceanic forcing with millimeter precision, at a sample spacing better than 50 m, simultaneously over areas several 100 km wide; in contrast with earlier methods that detect abrupt changes in surface slope in satellite visible imagery or altimetry data. On stagnant and slow-moving areas, we find that breaks in surface slope are reliable indicators of grounding lines; but on most fast-moving glaciers and ice streams, our DInSAR results reveal that prior mappings have positioning errors ranging from a few km to over 100 km. A better agreement is found with ICESat's data, also based on measurements of vertical motion, but with a detection noise one order of magnitude larger than with DInSAR. Overall, the DInSAR mapping of Antarctic grounding lines completely redefines the coastline of Antarctica. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves University of California: eScholarship Antarctic Geophysical Research Letters 38 10 n/a n/a |
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Open Polar |
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University of California: eScholarship |
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ftcdlib |
language |
English |
description |
The delineation of an ice sheet grounding line, i.e., the transition boundary where ice detaches from the bed and becomes afloat in the ocean, is critical to ice sheet mass budget calculations, numerical modeling of ice sheet dynamics, iceocean interactions, oceanic tides, and subglacial environments. Here, we present 15 years of comprehensive, high-resolution mapping of grounding lines in Antarctica using differential satellite synthetic-aperture radar interferometry (DInSAR) data from the Earth Remote Sensing Satellites 1-2 (ERS-1/2), RADARSAT-1 and 2, and the Advanced Land Observing System (ALOS) PALSAR for years 1994 to 2009. DInSAR directly measures the vertical motion of floating ice shelves in response to tidal oceanic forcing with millimeter precision, at a sample spacing better than 50 m, simultaneously over areas several 100 km wide; in contrast with earlier methods that detect abrupt changes in surface slope in satellite visible imagery or altimetry data. On stagnant and slow-moving areas, we find that breaks in surface slope are reliable indicators of grounding lines; but on most fast-moving glaciers and ice streams, our DInSAR results reveal that prior mappings have positioning errors ranging from a few km to over 100 km. A better agreement is found with ICESat's data, also based on measurements of vertical motion, but with a detection noise one order of magnitude larger than with DInSAR. Overall, the DInSAR mapping of Antarctic grounding lines completely redefines the coastline of Antarctica. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rignot, E Mouginot, J Scheuchl, B |
spellingShingle |
Rignot, E Mouginot, J Scheuchl, B Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry |
author_facet |
Rignot, E Mouginot, J Scheuchl, B |
author_sort |
Rignot, E |
title |
Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry |
title_short |
Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry |
title_full |
Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry |
title_fullStr |
Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry |
title_full_unstemmed |
Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry |
title_sort |
antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/08c3z11p |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves |
op_source |
Rignot, E; Mouginot, J; & Scheuchl, B. (2011). Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry. Geophysical Research Letters, 38(10). doi:10.1029/2011GL047109. UC Irvine: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/08c3z11p |
op_relation |
qt08c3z11p http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/08c3z11p |
op_rights |
Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GL047109 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
38 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
n/a |
op_container_end_page |
n/a |
_version_ |
1766267261195124736 |