Using Airborne Ku-Band Altimeter Waveforms to Investigate Winter Accumulation and Glacier Facies on Austfonna, Svalbard
Winter balance is an important metric for assessing the change on glaciers and ice caps, yet measuring it using ground-based techniques can be challenging. We use the European Space Agency prototype Airborne SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter System (ASIRAS) to extract snow depths from the received...
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Online Access: | https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/3525 https://doi.org/10.3189/2013JoG13J051 https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/context/facoa/article/4514/viewcontent/div_class_title_using_airborne_ku_band_altimeter_waveforms_to_investigate_winter_accumulation_and_glacier_facies_on_austfonna_svalbard_div.pdf |
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ftdartmouthcoll:oai:digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu:facoa-4514 2023-07-16T03:57:03+02:00 Using Airborne Ku-Band Altimeter Waveforms to Investigate Winter Accumulation and Glacier Facies on Austfonna, Svalbard Hawley, Robert L Brandt, Ola Dunse, Thorben Hagen, Jon Ove Helm, Veit Kohler, Jack Langley, Kirsty Malnes, Eirik Hogda, Kjell-Arild 2013-07-10T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/3525 https://doi.org/10.3189/2013JoG13J051 https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/context/facoa/article/4514/viewcontent/div_class_title_using_airborne_ku_band_altimeter_waveforms_to_investigate_winter_accumulation_and_glacier_facies_on_austfonna_svalbard_div.pdf unknown Dartmouth Digital Commons https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/3525 doi:10.3189/2013JoG13J051 https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/context/facoa/article/4514/viewcontent/div_class_title_using_airborne_ku_band_altimeter_waveforms_to_investigate_winter_accumulation_and_glacier_facies_on_austfonna_svalbard_div.pdf Dartmouth Scholarship radar observation space remote sensing polar orbiting satellite polar region snow accumulation facies waveforms satellite observation ku band interferometry radar altimetry synthetic aperture radar ers glacier variation winter glacier balance mass balance polythermal glacier ice caps svalbard polar regions arctic region observation radar Earth Sciences Glaciology Physical Sciences and Mathematics text 2013 ftdartmouthcoll https://doi.org/10.3189/2013JoG13J051 2023-06-28T10:44:16Z Winter balance is an important metric for assessing the change on glaciers and ice caps, yet measuring it using ground-based techniques can be challenging. We use the European Space Agency prototype Airborne SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter System (ASIRAS) to extract snow depths from the received altimeter waveforms over Austfonna ice cap, Svalbard. Additionally, we attempt to distinguish the long-term firn area from other glacier facies. We validate our results using snow depth and glacier facies characterizations determined from ground-based radar profiles, snow pits and a multi-look satellite synthetic aperture radar image. We show that the depth of the winter snowpack can be extracted from the altimeter data over most of the accumulation zone, comprising wet snow zone and a superimposed ice zone. The method struggles at lower elevations where internal reflections within the winter snowpack are strong and the winter snow depth is less than ∼1 m. We use the abruptness of the reflection from the last summer surface (LSS) to attempt to distinguish glacier facies. While there is a general correlation between LSS abruptness and glacier facies, we do not find a relationship that warrants a distinct classification based on ASIRAS waveforms alone. Text Arctic Austfonna glacier Ice cap Svalbard Dartmouth Digital Commons (Dartmouth College) Arctic Austfonna ENVELOPE(24.559,24.559,79.835,79.835) Svalbard Journal of Glaciology 59 217 893 899 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Dartmouth Digital Commons (Dartmouth College) |
op_collection_id |
ftdartmouthcoll |
language |
unknown |
topic |
radar observation space remote sensing polar orbiting satellite polar region snow accumulation facies waveforms satellite observation ku band interferometry radar altimetry synthetic aperture radar ers glacier variation winter glacier balance mass balance polythermal glacier ice caps svalbard polar regions arctic region observation radar Earth Sciences Glaciology Physical Sciences and Mathematics |
spellingShingle |
radar observation space remote sensing polar orbiting satellite polar region snow accumulation facies waveforms satellite observation ku band interferometry radar altimetry synthetic aperture radar ers glacier variation winter glacier balance mass balance polythermal glacier ice caps svalbard polar regions arctic region observation radar Earth Sciences Glaciology Physical Sciences and Mathematics Hawley, Robert L Brandt, Ola Dunse, Thorben Hagen, Jon Ove Helm, Veit Kohler, Jack Langley, Kirsty Malnes, Eirik Hogda, Kjell-Arild Using Airborne Ku-Band Altimeter Waveforms to Investigate Winter Accumulation and Glacier Facies on Austfonna, Svalbard |
topic_facet |
radar observation space remote sensing polar orbiting satellite polar region snow accumulation facies waveforms satellite observation ku band interferometry radar altimetry synthetic aperture radar ers glacier variation winter glacier balance mass balance polythermal glacier ice caps svalbard polar regions arctic region observation radar Earth Sciences Glaciology Physical Sciences and Mathematics |
description |
Winter balance is an important metric for assessing the change on glaciers and ice caps, yet measuring it using ground-based techniques can be challenging. We use the European Space Agency prototype Airborne SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter System (ASIRAS) to extract snow depths from the received altimeter waveforms over Austfonna ice cap, Svalbard. Additionally, we attempt to distinguish the long-term firn area from other glacier facies. We validate our results using snow depth and glacier facies characterizations determined from ground-based radar profiles, snow pits and a multi-look satellite synthetic aperture radar image. We show that the depth of the winter snowpack can be extracted from the altimeter data over most of the accumulation zone, comprising wet snow zone and a superimposed ice zone. The method struggles at lower elevations where internal reflections within the winter snowpack are strong and the winter snow depth is less than ∼1 m. We use the abruptness of the reflection from the last summer surface (LSS) to attempt to distinguish glacier facies. While there is a general correlation between LSS abruptness and glacier facies, we do not find a relationship that warrants a distinct classification based on ASIRAS waveforms alone. |
format |
Text |
author |
Hawley, Robert L Brandt, Ola Dunse, Thorben Hagen, Jon Ove Helm, Veit Kohler, Jack Langley, Kirsty Malnes, Eirik Hogda, Kjell-Arild |
author_facet |
Hawley, Robert L Brandt, Ola Dunse, Thorben Hagen, Jon Ove Helm, Veit Kohler, Jack Langley, Kirsty Malnes, Eirik Hogda, Kjell-Arild |
author_sort |
Hawley, Robert L |
title |
Using Airborne Ku-Band Altimeter Waveforms to Investigate Winter Accumulation and Glacier Facies on Austfonna, Svalbard |
title_short |
Using Airborne Ku-Band Altimeter Waveforms to Investigate Winter Accumulation and Glacier Facies on Austfonna, Svalbard |
title_full |
Using Airborne Ku-Band Altimeter Waveforms to Investigate Winter Accumulation and Glacier Facies on Austfonna, Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Using Airborne Ku-Band Altimeter Waveforms to Investigate Winter Accumulation and Glacier Facies on Austfonna, Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using Airborne Ku-Band Altimeter Waveforms to Investigate Winter Accumulation and Glacier Facies on Austfonna, Svalbard |
title_sort |
using airborne ku-band altimeter waveforms to investigate winter accumulation and glacier facies on austfonna, svalbard |
publisher |
Dartmouth Digital Commons |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/3525 https://doi.org/10.3189/2013JoG13J051 https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/context/facoa/article/4514/viewcontent/div_class_title_using_airborne_ku_band_altimeter_waveforms_to_investigate_winter_accumulation_and_glacier_facies_on_austfonna_svalbard_div.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(24.559,24.559,79.835,79.835) |
geographic |
Arctic Austfonna Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Austfonna Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Austfonna glacier Ice cap Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Austfonna glacier Ice cap Svalbard |
op_source |
Dartmouth Scholarship |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/3525 doi:10.3189/2013JoG13J051 https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/context/facoa/article/4514/viewcontent/div_class_title_using_airborne_ku_band_altimeter_waveforms_to_investigate_winter_accumulation_and_glacier_facies_on_austfonna_svalbard_div.pdf |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3189/2013JoG13J051 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
59 |
container_issue |
217 |
container_start_page |
893 |
op_container_end_page |
899 |
_version_ |
1771543571850067968 |