Flow Characteristics of Tidewater Glaciers in Greenland and Alaska using Ground-Based LiDAR

LiDAR scanning systems have been employed to characterize and quantify multi-temporal glacier and ice sheet changes for nearly three decades. Until recently, LiDAR scanning systems were limited to airborne and space-based platforms which come at a significant cost to deploy and are limited in spatial and temporal sampling capabilities necessary to compare with in-situ field measurements. Portable ground-based LiDAR scanning systems are now being used as a glaciological tool. We discuss research efforts to employ ground-based near-infrared LiDAR systems at two differing tidewater glacier systems in the spring of 2009; Helheim Glacier in southeast Greenland and Columbia Glacier in southeast Alaska. Preliminary results allow us to characterize short term displacement rates and detailed observations of calving processes. These results highlight the operational limitations and capabilities of commercially available LiDAR systems, and allow us to identify optimal operating characteristics for monitoring small to large-scale tidewater glaciers in near real-time. Furthermore, by identifying the operational limitations of these sensors it allows for optimal design characteristics of new sensors necessary to meet ground-based calibration and validation requirements of ongoing scientific missions.