Retrieval of Svalbard ice flow velocities using Sentinel 1A/1B three-pass Differential SAR Interferometry

• Published in: Geocarto International
• Main Authors: Bala Raju Nela, Gulab Singh, Shradha Mohanty, Rajat, Jorge Arigony-Neto, Andrey F. Glazovsky
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2022
• Subjects: glacier movement; differential sar interferometry; 2-pass and 3-pass interferometry; dem; coherence and interferogram; Physical geography; GB3-5030; Svalbard; glacier
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/10106049.2022.2032391; https://doaj.org/article/87323ff5145e4955a78a0e767083a4f7

Glacier velocity is an important parameter to characterize glacier dynamics and to derive ice thickness and mass balance. The 2-pass/3-pass Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) techniques are advantageous in estimating glacier movements. However, the 2-pass DInSAR requires an external Digital Elevation Model (DEM), whereas the 3-pass DInSAR does not. The 3-pass DInSAR technique is adopted with Sentinel-1A/1B to map the Svalbard glacier flow velocities. Furthermore, the effect of glacier surface elevation change on the 2-pass DInSAR results were revealed by comparing glacier velocity with the two time period topographic information. The coherence indicates that Sentinel-1A/1B has a high potential to infer operational glacier velocity using the 3-pass DInSAR method with an average atmospheric uncertainty of 0.24 cm/day over the studied region. The precision of the 3-pass DInSAR is analyzed by comparing 2-pass derived line-of-sight (LOS) velocity on the same dates. The 3-pass DInSAR achieves high-resolution and detailed information.