| Summary: | Changes in the dynamics of glaciers must be assessed, as they are important for sea level changes. Glacier velocity is the most important parameter used in glacier dynamics studies. Various image matching techniques, which are implemented in different domains, have been utilized to estimate the surface velocity of glaciers, since the first use of remote sensing technology. In this study, we derived the precise velocity of the Polar Record Glacier (PRG), east Antarctica, in recent years, using optical remote sensing. The secondary objective of the study was to comparatively test the accurate geospatial tools for velocity estimation. The study was first conducted on a single image pair, and four different tools were used for the estimation of the glacier velocity, which are the COSI-Corr (Co-registration of Optically Sensed Images and Correlation) tool in ENVI (Exelis Visual Information Solutions), the IMGRAFT (Image GeoRectification and Feature Tracking) in MATLAB, the IMCORR (Image correlation) feature tracking tool in SAGA-GIS, and the image correlation software CIAS. After evaluation of the four feature tracking tools, COSI-Corr yielded a pixel-level velocity with both magnitude and directions, while IMGRAFT provided the glacier speed without the directions. On the other hand, IMCORR yielded good results with respect to magnitude and directions of the glacier velocity, but the pixel-wise magnitude was not produced. CIAS also provided closely bundled velocity products without pixel-wise velocity. COSI-Corr and IMGRAFT were found to be the best of the four tools, and COSI-Corr is recommended for further studies to estimate the velocity of the PRG.
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