Improved Characterization of the Jakobshavn Isbræ Catchment Region through Analysis of Radar Depth Sounder Data
Abstract
Glaciers and ice sheets play a significant role in climate research due to their potential effect on sea level rise. Models developed to predict the motion of fast flowing outlet glaciers are currently limited by the lack of data available for key study areas. One of the most important parameters controlling glacier flow is bed topography. Airborne radar data collected in 2008 over Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland, by the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, has been processed and analyzed in order to provide researchers with concise measurements of ice thickness and bed topography as well as an interpretation of the flow direction of ice within the catchment region. Data collection for this survey was conducted on a 10 kilometer spacing and spans a rectangular region of 160 kilometers by 320 kilometers. Results from this survey show a nearly three-dimensional volume of the catchment basin supplying ice to Jakobshavn Isbræ. Imaging of the bed reveals a network of channels upflow of the primary channel which had not been previously identified. Ice layer mapping suggests that flow of ice within the catchment lies preferentially within these smaller ice basins. Improvements in understanding how ice moves within the catchment is expected to provide additional information to modelers which could lead to improved predictions of ice movement and changes in mass balance for the larger ice sheet.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFM.C11C0684H
- Keywords:
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- 0758 CRYOSPHERE / Remote sensing