Detection and characterization of discontinuous motion on Thompson Glacier, Canadian High Arctic, using synthetic aperture radar speckle tracking and ice-flow modeling

We investigate unusual discontinuous glacier motion on Thompson Glacier, Umingmat Nunaat, Arctic Canada, using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and ice-flow modeling. A novel intensity-rescaling scheme is developed to reduce errors in high-resolution speckle tracking, resulting in a ~25% improv...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Authors: Giovanni Corti, Bernhard Rabus, Gwenn E. Flowers
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press
Subjects:
Arctic glaciology
glacier flow
glacier modeling
ice velocity
remote sensing
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Meteorology. Climatology
QC851-999
Arctic
Canada
Thompson Glacier
glacier*
Journal of Glaciology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.67
https://doaj.org/article/c4c0da5de13c4bd6b8596bc4f4daff2c
Description
Summary:We investigate unusual discontinuous glacier motion on Thompson Glacier, Umingmat Nunaat, Arctic Canada, using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and ice-flow modeling. A novel intensity-rescaling scheme is developed to reduce errors in high-resolution speckle tracking, resulting in a ~25% improvement in accuracy. Interferometric SAR (InSAR) and speckle tracking using high resolution RADARSAT-2 data indicate velocity discontinuities of up to 1 cm d−1 across deep and longitudinally extensive supraglacial channels on Thompson Glacier. We use a cross-sectional finite-element ice-flow model to determine the conditions under which velocity discontinuities of the observed magnitude and signature are possible. The modeling suggests that discontinuous motion across (long and straight) supraglacial channels can occur without ice fracture and under a wide variety of glacier thermal structures, including in fully temperate glaciers. Despite the wide range of conditions conducive to discontinuous motion, the form we observe requires that the associated channels be deep, longitudinally extensive and located in regions of lateral shearing. We speculate that these combined conditions are rare except on polythermal glaciers, where drainage features such as moulins are comparatively scarce and lower deformation rates allow channels to incise consistently and persist over many years.

Similar Items