Seasonal and interannual ice velocity changes of Polar Record Glacier, East Antarctica

We present a study of seasonal and interannual ice velocity changes at Polar Record Glacier, East Antarctica, using ERS-1/2, Envisat and PALSAR data with D-InSAR and intensity tracking. Ice flow showed seasonal variations at the front of the glacier tongue. Velocities in winter were 19% less than ve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of Glaciology
Main Authors: Zhou, C, Zhou, Y, Deng, F, Ai, S, Wang, Z, Dongchen, E
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: International Glaciological Society 2016
Subjects:
East Antarctica
Polar Record Glacier
Antarc*
Antarctica
Sea ice
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3189/2014AoG66A185
https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c94927b6-c6c5-4e2b-b80e-798647a9543d
Description
Summary:We present a study of seasonal and interannual ice velocity changes at Polar Record Glacier, East Antarctica, using ERS-1/2, Envisat and PALSAR data with D-InSAR and intensity tracking. Ice flow showed seasonal variations at the front of the glacier tongue. Velocities in winter were 19% less than velocities during summer. No significant interannual changes were detected. Ice velocities in the grounding zone and grounded glacier did not show clear seasonal or interannual changes. The distributio of the seasonal variations suggests that the cause for the changes should be localized. Possible causes are seasonal sea-ice changes and iceberg blocking. Satellite images show that the sea ice surrounding Polar Record Glacier undergoes seasonal changes. Frozen sea ice in winter slowed the huge iceberg, and provided increased resistance to the glacier flow. The interaction between the glacier tongue, ice berg and sea ice significantly influences their flow pattern.

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