Changes in ice dynamics and glacier mass balances on the northern Antarctic Peninsula derived from remote sensing data

• Main Author: Seehaus, Thorsten
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Glacier; Remote Sensing; Antarctic Peninsula; ddc:559; Antarctic; The Antarctic; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; Antarktis*; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelves; Tidewater
• Online Access: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/frontdoor/index/index/docId/8209; https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:29-opus4-82092; https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/files/8209/Thesis-Seehaus.pdf

The climate system of our planet has undergone significant changes since the beginning of industrialization and the global average surface temperature has risen by 0.74±0.18°C per century. The cryosphere plays an important role in the global climate system. It shows considerable changes in response to climatic variations. Large amounts of water are stored in the glaciers and ice sheets. However, the changes in climatic conditions lead to shrinkage of the ice masses, resulting in a contribution to the global sea level rise. The Antarctic Ice Sheet has shown significant changes in the last century and major ice mass loss was reported in West Antarctica and along the Antarctic Peninsula. The Antarctic Peninsula is a hotspot of global warming and is affected by dramatic climatic and glaciological changes. A strong temperature increase was observed in the 20th century. Along the peninsula numerous ice shelves have retreated considerably or even disintegrated within the last decades. The recession or break-up of the ice shelves has led to a reduced buttressing of the tributary glaciers. Consequently, the ice flow of former tributaries has accelerated, resulting in increased mass discharge. Widespread recession of tidewater glaciers was also reported along the Antarctic Peninsula, and surface lowering and speed-up of the outlet glaciers was found on the west coast. Since the 1960s, an increasing amount of spaceborne remote sensing data has been acquired worldwide. Field observations in polar regions are expensive, laborious and usually temporally and spatially limited. Thus, remote sensing data facilitates the spatially extended investigation of the large polar ice sheets, especially in inaccessible areas, complementary to field campaigns. Numerous methods have been developed in order to analyze the changes of glaciers and ice sheets based on remote sensing data. The Antarctic Peninsula has difficult terrain and is frequently covered by clouds. Hence, radar remote sensing is an ideal tool to investigate this region, ...