| Title | RADARSAT-2 for measuring glacial dynamics and ice berg calving flux from ice caps in the Canadian high Arctic |
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| Author | Burgess, D ; van
Wychen, W; Gray, L; Demuth, M |
| Source | 9th ASAR Workshop, Canadian Space Agency, 2013, program and abstracts; by Canadian Space Agency; 2013.  Open Access |
| Links | Presentation online (PDF, 2 MB)
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| Image |  |
| Year | 2013 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20130301 |
| Meeting | 9th ASAR Workshop; CA; October 15-18, 2013 |
| Document | book |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Nunavut |
| NTS | 39; 120; 59G; 59H |
| Area | Devon Island; Ellesmere Island |
| Lat/Long WENS | -96.0000 -72.0000 83.0000 76.0000 |
| Subjects | surficial geology/geomorphology; geophysics; Nature and Environment; glaciers; glaciation; icefields; ice movement; remote sensing |
| Program | Climate Change Geoscience |
| Released | 2013 01 01 |
| Abstract | Recent 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 ID | 293275 |
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