Velocities, elevation changes and mass budgets of Antarctic Peninsula glaciers
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
Due to external travel funds and project internal reallocation of funds the project could be prolonged and two additional field campaigns could be carried out. A large amount of various remote sensing data time series were processed and analyzed in order to monitor temporal trends in ice flow, frontal movement, surface elevation change and mass balance of glaciers along the Antarctic Peninsula. At two glacier system (DBE and Sjögren-Inlet Glaciers) the response of tributary glaciers to ice shelf disintegration was studied in unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution. Long-term ice dynamic and mass balance trend as well as short term fluctuations in ice dynamics and front positions could be observed and correlated with changes in the buttressing of the glaciers and oceanic and atmospheric forcing. Moreover the temporal trends of ice dynamics of 74 glacier basins along the northern Antarctic Peninsula was analyzed in the period 1985-2014. A similar behavior of the former ice shelf tributaries (strong frontal retreat, speed up with subsequent deceleration) as well as for glaciers on the east coast (frontal retreat, strong deceleration) was observed. Along the west coast the glacier changes showed a heterogeneous behavior, but the observed trends of the basins could be correlated with geometries of the individual catchments by applying a hierarchical cluster analyses. The mass balance of these sub-regions were also estimated and revealed a change from negative mass budgets in the period 1992-1996 to slightly positive mass balance in 2010-2014, which correlates to gravimetric measurements (GRACE) and uplift information, and can be attributed to a long term increase in accumulation and a recent cooling at the Antarctic Peninsula. Furthermore, the SAR X-band signal penetration of TanDEM-X was evaluated, the frontal and rift development as well as basal melt rates of SCAR-Inlet studied, the flow field of Larsen-C Ice Shelf and the ice discharge of its major tributaries computed, the glacier extend and surface elevation change of outlet glaciers of James Ross Island analyzed and a high resolution DEM of King George Island from TanDEM-X data generated. Not all proposed field measurements could be carried out at DBE glacier system due to the snow conditions and safety reasons. Thus, the installation of long-term GNSS data-loggers and mass balance stakes had to be shifted to Gourdon Glacier and the plateau of James-Ross-Island where three successfull field campaigns were conducted. The proposed airborne altimeter measurements using the laser scanner from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks was substituted by airborne laser scanning and ground penetrating radar surveys by Alfred Wegener Institut in Bremerhaven. The data obtained from the field measurements were implemented in the remote sensing data analysis for accuracy estimation, referencing and interpretation. Some obtained output is already available via PANGAEA and more datasets will be made publicly available. Moreover, the field measurements and remote sensing studies at the northern Antarctic Peninsula, especially at James-Ross-Island will be continued within the project “IMPECCABLE” funded by DFG within the Czech-German collaborative candidacy 2015.
Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)
-
2015. Changes in ice dynamics, elevation and mass discharge of Dinsmoor–Bombardier–Edgeworth glacier system, Antarctic Peninsula. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 427, 125–135
Seehaus, T., Marinsek, S., Helm, V., Skvarca, P., Braun, M.
-
2016. Dynamic response of Sjögren Inlet glaciers, Antarctic Peninsula, to ice shelf breakup derived from multi-mission remote sensing time series. Frontiers in Earth Sciences
Seehaus, T., Marinsek, S., Skvarca, P., van Wessem, J., Reijmer, C., Seco, J., Braun, M.
