Perennial Supraglacial Lakes in Northeast Greenland Observed by Polarimetric SAR
Supraglacial liquid water at the margins of ice sheets has an important impact on the surface energy balance and can also influence the ice flow when supraglacial lakes drain to the bed. Optical imagery is able to monitor supraglacial lakes during the summer season. Here we developed an alternative...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2072-4292/12/17/2798/ 2023-08-20T04:06:51+02:00 Perennial Supraglacial Lakes in Northeast Greenland Observed by Polarimetric SAR Ludwig Schröder Niklas Neckel Robin Zindler Angelika Humbert agris 2020-08-28 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12172798 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs12172798 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Remote Sensing; Volume 12; Issue 17; Pages: 2798 SAR polarimetry supraglacial lakes remote sensing of ice sheet hydrology Greenland Ice Sheet Text 2020 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12172798 2023-08-01T00:00:09Z Supraglacial liquid water at the margins of ice sheets has an important impact on the surface energy balance and can also influence the ice flow when supraglacial lakes drain to the bed. Optical imagery is able to monitor supraglacial lakes during the summer season. Here we developed an alternative method using polarimetric SAR from Sentinel-1 during 2017–2020 to distinguish between liquid water and other surface types at the margin of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream. This allows the supraglacial hydrology to be monitored during the winter months too. We found that the majority of supraglacial lakes persist over winter. When comparing our results to optical data, we found significantly more water. Even during summer, many lakes are partly or fully covered by a lid of ice and snow. We used our classification results to automatically map the outlines of supraglacial lakes, create time series of water area for each lake, and hence detect drainage events. We even found several winter time drainages, which might have an important effect on ice flow. Our method has problems during the peak of the melt season, but for the rest of the year it provides crucial information for better understanding the component of supraglacial hydrology in the glaciological system. Text Greenland Ice Sheet MDPI Open Access Publishing Greenland Remote Sensing 12 17 2798 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
SAR polarimetry supraglacial lakes remote sensing of ice sheet hydrology Greenland Ice Sheet |
spellingShingle |
SAR polarimetry supraglacial lakes remote sensing of ice sheet hydrology Greenland Ice Sheet Ludwig Schröder Niklas Neckel Robin Zindler Angelika Humbert Perennial Supraglacial Lakes in Northeast Greenland Observed by Polarimetric SAR |
topic_facet |
SAR polarimetry supraglacial lakes remote sensing of ice sheet hydrology Greenland Ice Sheet |
description |
Supraglacial liquid water at the margins of ice sheets has an important impact on the surface energy balance and can also influence the ice flow when supraglacial lakes drain to the bed. Optical imagery is able to monitor supraglacial lakes during the summer season. Here we developed an alternative method using polarimetric SAR from Sentinel-1 during 2017–2020 to distinguish between liquid water and other surface types at the margin of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream. This allows the supraglacial hydrology to be monitored during the winter months too. We found that the majority of supraglacial lakes persist over winter. When comparing our results to optical data, we found significantly more water. Even during summer, many lakes are partly or fully covered by a lid of ice and snow. We used our classification results to automatically map the outlines of supraglacial lakes, create time series of water area for each lake, and hence detect drainage events. We even found several winter time drainages, which might have an important effect on ice flow. Our method has problems during the peak of the melt season, but for the rest of the year it provides crucial information for better understanding the component of supraglacial hydrology in the glaciological system. |
format |
Text |
author |
Ludwig Schröder Niklas Neckel Robin Zindler Angelika Humbert |
author_facet |
Ludwig Schröder Niklas Neckel Robin Zindler Angelika Humbert |
author_sort |
Ludwig Schröder |
title |
Perennial Supraglacial Lakes in Northeast Greenland Observed by Polarimetric SAR |
title_short |
Perennial Supraglacial Lakes in Northeast Greenland Observed by Polarimetric SAR |
title_full |
Perennial Supraglacial Lakes in Northeast Greenland Observed by Polarimetric SAR |
title_fullStr |
Perennial Supraglacial Lakes in Northeast Greenland Observed by Polarimetric SAR |
title_full_unstemmed |
Perennial Supraglacial Lakes in Northeast Greenland Observed by Polarimetric SAR |
title_sort |
perennial supraglacial lakes in northeast greenland observed by polarimetric sar |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12172798 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Remote Sensing; Volume 12; Issue 17; Pages: 2798 |
op_relation |
Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs12172798 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12172798 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
17 |
container_start_page |
2798 |
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1774718189037420544 |