Registering imagery to ICESat data for measuring elevation changes on Byrd Glacier, Antarctica

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Schenk, Toni, Csatho, Bea M., van der Veen, Cornelis J., Brecher, H., Ahn, Y., Yoon, T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2015
• Subjects: Antarctic; East Antarctic Ice Sheet; Transantarctic Mountains; Byrd; Byrd Glacier; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1808/17325; https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL024328

This is the published version, also available here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2005GL024328. We present a new approach to derive control information from ICESat data that enables rigorous registration of aerial and satellite imagery. The technique, based on matching terrain features identified from ICESat measurements and aerial imagery, opens the door to transform results of previous studies to a global reference frame. We demonstrate the proposed methodology with historical aerial photographs to determine surface changes between 1979 and 2004 over Byrd Glacier. This is important because there is no satellite radar altimetry coverage south of 81.5° S, which limits mass balance knowledge of outlet glaciers draining the East Antarctic ice sheet through the southern Transantarctic Mountains. Our study indicates that the grounded part of Byrd Glacier is close to being in balance. However, we observe large thinning on the floating part of the glacier, probably induced by increased basal melting.