Using ICESat-2 and Operation IceBridge altimetry for supraglacial lake depth retrievals
Supraglacial lakes and melt ponds occur in the ablation zones of Antarctica and Greenland during the summer months. Detection of lake extent, depth, and temporal evolution is important for understanding glacier dynamics. Previous remote sensing observations of lake depth are limited to estimates fro...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:3bb5a111c4a14b9f84ff114cb283156c 2023-05-15T13:07:34+02:00 Using ICESat-2 and Operation IceBridge altimetry for supraglacial lake depth retrievals Z. Fair M. Flanner K. M. Brunt H. A. Fricker A. Gardner 2020-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4253-2020 https://doaj.org/article/3bb5a111c4a14b9f84ff114cb283156c EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/4253/2020/tc-14-4253-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-4253-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/3bb5a111c4a14b9f84ff114cb283156c The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 4253-4263 (2020) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4253-2020 2022-12-31T06:12:33Z Supraglacial lakes and melt ponds occur in the ablation zones of Antarctica and Greenland during the summer months. Detection of lake extent, depth, and temporal evolution is important for understanding glacier dynamics. Previous remote sensing observations of lake depth are limited to estimates from passive satellite imagery, which has inherent uncertainties, and there is little ground truth available. In this study, we use laser altimetry data from the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) over the Antarctic and Greenland ablation zones and the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) for Hiawatha Glacier (Greenland) to demonstrate retrievals of supraglacial lake depth. Using an algorithm to separate lake surfaces and beds, we present case studies for 12 supraglacial lakes with the ATM lidar and 12 lakes with ICESat-2. Both lidars reliably detect bottom returns for lake beds as deep as 7 m. Lake bed uncertainties for these retrievals are 0.05–0.20 m for ATM and 0.12–0.80 m for ICESat-2, with the highest uncertainties observed for lakes deeper than 4 m. The bimodal nature of lake returns means that high-confidence photons are often insufficient to fully profile lakes, so lower confidence and buffer photons are required to view the lake bed. Despite challenges in automation, the altimeter results are promising, and we expect them to serve as a benchmark for future studies of surface meltwater depths. Article in Journal/Newspaper Airborne Topographic Mapper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica glacier Greenland The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic The Antarctic Greenland The Cryosphere 14 11 4253 4263 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 Z. Fair M. Flanner K. M. Brunt H. A. Fricker A. Gardner Using ICESat-2 and Operation IceBridge altimetry for supraglacial lake depth retrievals |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Supraglacial lakes and melt ponds occur in the ablation zones of Antarctica and Greenland during the summer months. Detection of lake extent, depth, and temporal evolution is important for understanding glacier dynamics. Previous remote sensing observations of lake depth are limited to estimates from passive satellite imagery, which has inherent uncertainties, and there is little ground truth available. In this study, we use laser altimetry data from the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) over the Antarctic and Greenland ablation zones and the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) for Hiawatha Glacier (Greenland) to demonstrate retrievals of supraglacial lake depth. Using an algorithm to separate lake surfaces and beds, we present case studies for 12 supraglacial lakes with the ATM lidar and 12 lakes with ICESat-2. Both lidars reliably detect bottom returns for lake beds as deep as 7 m. Lake bed uncertainties for these retrievals are 0.05–0.20 m for ATM and 0.12–0.80 m for ICESat-2, with the highest uncertainties observed for lakes deeper than 4 m. The bimodal nature of lake returns means that high-confidence photons are often insufficient to fully profile lakes, so lower confidence and buffer photons are required to view the lake bed. Despite challenges in automation, the altimeter results are promising, and we expect them to serve as a benchmark for future studies of surface meltwater depths. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Z. Fair M. Flanner K. M. Brunt H. A. Fricker A. Gardner |
author_facet |
Z. Fair M. Flanner K. M. Brunt H. A. Fricker A. Gardner |
author_sort |
Z. Fair |
title |
Using ICESat-2 and Operation IceBridge altimetry for supraglacial lake depth retrievals |
title_short |
Using ICESat-2 and Operation IceBridge altimetry for supraglacial lake depth retrievals |
title_full |
Using ICESat-2 and Operation IceBridge altimetry for supraglacial lake depth retrievals |
title_fullStr |
Using ICESat-2 and Operation IceBridge altimetry for supraglacial lake depth retrievals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using ICESat-2 and Operation IceBridge altimetry for supraglacial lake depth retrievals |
title_sort |
using icesat-2 and operation icebridge altimetry for supraglacial lake depth retrievals |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4253-2020 https://doaj.org/article/3bb5a111c4a14b9f84ff114cb283156c |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Greenland |
genre |
Airborne Topographic Mapper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica glacier Greenland The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Airborne Topographic Mapper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica glacier Greenland The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 4253-4263 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/4253/2020/tc-14-4253-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-4253-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/3bb5a111c4a14b9f84ff114cb283156c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4253-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
4253 |
op_container_end_page |
4263 |
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1766059582870781952 |