A Comparison of Recent Elevation Change Estimates of the Devon Ice Cap as Measured by the ICESat and EnviSAT Satellite Altimeters
We have used surface elevation measurements acquired by the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) and EnviSAT Radar Altimeter 2 (RA-2) satellite altimeters to assess the elevation change of the 13 700-km(2) Devon Ice Cap (DIC) in Arctic Canada between 2002...
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IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC
2011
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ftucl:oai:eprints.ucl.ac.uk.OAI2:1330805 2023-05-15T15:15:57+02:00 A Comparison of Recent Elevation Change Estimates of the Devon Ice Cap as Measured by the ICESat and EnviSAT Satellite Altimeters Rinne, E Shepherd, A Muir, A Wingham, D 2011-06 http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1330805/ unknown IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC IEEE T GEOSCI REMOTE , 49 (6) 1902 - 1910. (2011) Altimetry Devon EnviSAT Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) ice cap Ice Cloud land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) Radar Altimeter 2 (RA-2) MASS-BALANCE GLACIERS CANADA SHEET GREENLAND NUNAVUT ISLAND RATES Article 2011 ftucl 2017-03-09T23:11:13Z We have used surface elevation measurements acquired by the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) and EnviSAT Radar Altimeter 2 (RA-2) satellite altimeters to assess the elevation change of the 13 700-km(2) Devon Ice Cap (DIC) in Arctic Canada between 2002 and 2008. We present algorithms for the retrieval of elevation change rates over ice caps using data acquired from these satellites. A comparison of GLAS elevation data to those acquired by the RA-2 shows reasonable agreement between the two instruments; the root mean square elevation change difference was 56 cm, and the correlation coefficient between the two data sets was 0.68. Using only RA-2 elevation measurements, which are spatially and temporally more continuous, we determined the elevation change rate of the areas of the DIC where the surface geometry allows the RA-2 retracker to maintain lock. This includes most of the DIC, excluding large parts of the eastern half of the ice cap. The elevation change rate was found to be insignificant given a statistical estimate of the measurement error (-0.09 +/- 0.29 m/a). We also present an assessment of the regional variations of the DIC elevation change, including a significant -0.71 +/- 0.49 m/a elevation change rate of the 1980-km(2) western arm. Furthermore, we present evidence of a localized 2-m drop in the surface elevation of the South Croker Bay Glacier during summer 2007. This drop is apparent within both satellite data sets, and we interpret this signal to reflect a sudden speedup of the glacier. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Croker Bay glacier glacier* Greenland Ice cap Nunavut University College London: UCL Discovery Arctic Canada Croker ENVELOPE(-61.683,-61.683,-63.966,-63.966) Croker Bay ENVELOPE(-83.249,-83.249,74.702,74.702) Devon Ice Cap ENVELOPE(-82.499,-82.499,75.335,75.335) Greenland Nunavut Western Arm ENVELOPE(-55.948,-55.948,49.683,49.683) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University College London: UCL Discovery |
op_collection_id |
ftucl |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Altimetry Devon EnviSAT Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) ice cap Ice Cloud land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) Radar Altimeter 2 (RA-2) MASS-BALANCE GLACIERS CANADA SHEET GREENLAND NUNAVUT ISLAND RATES |
spellingShingle |
Altimetry Devon EnviSAT Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) ice cap Ice Cloud land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) Radar Altimeter 2 (RA-2) MASS-BALANCE GLACIERS CANADA SHEET GREENLAND NUNAVUT ISLAND RATES Rinne, E Shepherd, A Muir, A Wingham, D A Comparison of Recent Elevation Change Estimates of the Devon Ice Cap as Measured by the ICESat and EnviSAT Satellite Altimeters |
topic_facet |
Altimetry Devon EnviSAT Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) ice cap Ice Cloud land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) Radar Altimeter 2 (RA-2) MASS-BALANCE GLACIERS CANADA SHEET GREENLAND NUNAVUT ISLAND RATES |
description |
We have used surface elevation measurements acquired by the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) and EnviSAT Radar Altimeter 2 (RA-2) satellite altimeters to assess the elevation change of the 13 700-km(2) Devon Ice Cap (DIC) in Arctic Canada between 2002 and 2008. We present algorithms for the retrieval of elevation change rates over ice caps using data acquired from these satellites. A comparison of GLAS elevation data to those acquired by the RA-2 shows reasonable agreement between the two instruments; the root mean square elevation change difference was 56 cm, and the correlation coefficient between the two data sets was 0.68. Using only RA-2 elevation measurements, which are spatially and temporally more continuous, we determined the elevation change rate of the areas of the DIC where the surface geometry allows the RA-2 retracker to maintain lock. This includes most of the DIC, excluding large parts of the eastern half of the ice cap. The elevation change rate was found to be insignificant given a statistical estimate of the measurement error (-0.09 +/- 0.29 m/a). We also present an assessment of the regional variations of the DIC elevation change, including a significant -0.71 +/- 0.49 m/a elevation change rate of the 1980-km(2) western arm. Furthermore, we present evidence of a localized 2-m drop in the surface elevation of the South Croker Bay Glacier during summer 2007. This drop is apparent within both satellite data sets, and we interpret this signal to reflect a sudden speedup of the glacier. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rinne, E Shepherd, A Muir, A Wingham, D |
author_facet |
Rinne, E Shepherd, A Muir, A Wingham, D |
author_sort |
Rinne, E |
title |
A Comparison of Recent Elevation Change Estimates of the Devon Ice Cap as Measured by the ICESat and EnviSAT Satellite Altimeters |
title_short |
A Comparison of Recent Elevation Change Estimates of the Devon Ice Cap as Measured by the ICESat and EnviSAT Satellite Altimeters |
title_full |
A Comparison of Recent Elevation Change Estimates of the Devon Ice Cap as Measured by the ICESat and EnviSAT Satellite Altimeters |
title_fullStr |
A Comparison of Recent Elevation Change Estimates of the Devon Ice Cap as Measured by the ICESat and EnviSAT Satellite Altimeters |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Comparison of Recent Elevation Change Estimates of the Devon Ice Cap as Measured by the ICESat and EnviSAT Satellite Altimeters |
title_sort |
comparison of recent elevation change estimates of the devon ice cap as measured by the icesat and envisat satellite altimeters |
publisher |
IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1330805/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-61.683,-61.683,-63.966,-63.966) ENVELOPE(-83.249,-83.249,74.702,74.702) ENVELOPE(-82.499,-82.499,75.335,75.335) ENVELOPE(-55.948,-55.948,49.683,49.683) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Croker Croker Bay Devon Ice Cap Greenland Nunavut Western Arm |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Croker Croker Bay Devon Ice Cap Greenland Nunavut Western Arm |
genre |
Arctic Croker Bay glacier glacier* Greenland Ice cap Nunavut |
genre_facet |
Arctic Croker Bay glacier glacier* Greenland Ice cap Nunavut |
op_source |
IEEE T GEOSCI REMOTE , 49 (6) 1902 - 1910. (2011) |
_version_ |
1766346279982465024 |