GEOSCAN Search Results: Fastlink

GEOSCAN Menu


TitleRADARSAT-2 for measuring glacial dynamics and ice berg calving flux from ice caps in the Canadian high Arctic
 
AuthorBurgess, DORCID logo; van Wychen, W; Gray, L; Demuth, M
Source9th ASAR Workshop, Canadian Space Agency, 2013, program and abstracts; by Canadian Space Agency; 2013. Open Access logo Open Access
LinksPresentation online (PDF, 2 MB)
Image
Year2013
Alt SeriesEarth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20130301
Meeting9th ASAR Workshop; CA; October 15-18, 2013
Documentbook
Lang.English
Mediapaper
File formatpdf
ProvinceNunavut
NTS39; 120; 59G; 59H
AreaDevon Island; Ellesmere Island
Lat/Long WENS -96.0000 -72.0000 83.0000 76.0000
Subjectssurficial geology/geomorphology; geophysics; Nature and Environment; glaciers; glaciation; icefields; ice movement; remote sensing
ProgramClimate Change Geoscience
Released2013 01 01
AbstractRecent climate warming at high-latitude and elevation regions of Canada has had a significant impact on the state of health of glaciers as indicated by the in-situ glacier monitoring program within the Climate Change Geoscience (CCG) ¿ Essential Climate Variables (ECV) program at the GSC/NRCan. While results from this long-term (50+ years) program provide valuable insight into climate change patterns and localized mass balance, satellite SAR data (RADARSAT-2 in particular) are being used increasingly to provide synoptic-scale coverage of glacier change. This talk describes the integration of SAR data into the GSC-NRCan glacier-climate observing system, and how these satellite data improve our knowledge of dynamics and net mass balance of Canada¿s ice caps and glaciers ¿ knowledge critical for assessments of sea-level change and water resources.
Summary(Plain Language Summary, not published)
RADARSAT-2 data have been used to derive velocity fields across the glaciated regions of the Canadian high Arctic since 2000. These data provide important information on inter-annual variability of glacier flow rates and ice mass lost directly to oceans through calving. Results from this work reveal that while there are over 20 important calving glaciers in the Queen Elizabeth Islands, the majority of ice discharge is generated from ~3 major glaciers, and some of these glaciers have experienced changes in flow rates up to 900 m a-1 over the past 13 years. We conclude that annual monitoring of these glaciers is important to understand net mass balance of the ice caps and as information of interest to shipping in the north.
GEOSCAN ID293275

 
Date modified: