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  • 1
    Publication Date: 2016-08-15
    Description: We present spatiotemporal mass balance trends for the Antarctic Ice Sheet from a statistical inversion of satellite altimetry, gravimetry, and elastic-corrected GPS data for the period 2003–2013. Our method simultaneously determines annual trends in ice dynamics, surface mass balance anomalies, and a time-invariant solution for glacio-isostatic adjustment while remaining largely independent of forward models. We establish that over the period 2003–2013, Antarctica has been losing mass at a rate of −84 ± 22 Gt yr−1, with a sustained negative mean trend of dynamic imbalance of −111 ± 13 Gt yr−1. West Antarctica is the largest contributor with −112 ± 10 Gt yr−1, mainly triggered by high thinning rates of glaciers draining into the Amundsen Sea Embayment. The Antarctic Peninsula has experienced a dramatic increase in mass loss in the last decade, with a mean rate of −28 ± 7 Gt yr−1 and significantly higher values for the most recent years following the destabilization of the Southern Antarctic Peninsula around 2010. The total mass loss is partly compensated by a significant mass gain of 56 ± 18 Gt yr−1 in East Antarctica due to a positive trend of surface mass balance anomalies.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: Article , isiRev
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2017-10-17
    Description: To understand the dynamics of ice shelves, a knowledge of their internal and basal structure is very important. As the capacity to perform local surveys is limited, remote sensing provides an opportunity to obtain the relevant information. We must prove, however, that the relevant information can be obtained from remote sensing of the surface. That is the aim of this study. The Jelbart Ice Shelf, Antarctica, exhibits a variety of surface structures appearing as stripe-like features in radar imagery. We performed an airborne geophysical survey across these features and compared the results to TerraSAR-X imagery. We find that the stripe-like structures indicate surface troughs coinciding with the location of basal channels and crevasse-like features, revealed by radio-echo sounding. HH and VV polarizations do not show different magnitude. In surface troughs, the local accumulation rate is larger than at the flat surface. Viscoelastic modelling is used to gain an understanding of the surface undulations and their origin. The surface displacement, computed with a Maxwell model, matches the observed surface reasonably well. Our simulations show that the surface troughs develop over decadal to centennial timescales.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: Article , isiRev
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  • 3
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    Wiley
    In:  EPIC3Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface, Wiley, 124, pp. 216-228, ISSN: 0148-0227
    Publication Date: 2019-08-14
    Description: This study assesses the response on ice dynamics of Petermann Glacier, a major outlet glacier in northern Greenland, to the 2012 and a possible future calving event. So far Petermann Glacier has been believed to be dynamically stable as another large calving event in 2010 had no significant impact on flow velocity or grounding line retreat. By analyzing a time series of remotely sensed surface velocities, we find an average acceleration of 10% between winter 2011/2012 and winter 2016/2017. This increase in surface velocity is not linear but can be separated into two parts, starting in 2012 and 2016 respectively. By conducting modeling experiments, we show that the first speedup can be directly connected to the 2012 calving event, while the second speedup is not captured. However, on recent remote sensing imagery newly developing fractures are clearly visible ∼12 km upstream from the terminus, propagating from the eastern fjord wall to the center of the ice tongue, indicating a possible future calving event. By including these fracture zones as a new terminus position in the modeling domain, we are able to reproduce the second speedup, suggesting that surface velocities remain on the 2016/2017 level after the anticipated calving event. This indicates that, from a dynamical point of view, the terminus region has already detached from the main ice tongue.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: Article , isiRev , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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  • 4
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    Wiley
    In:  EPIC3Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, Wiley, 123, pp. 2802-2826
    Publication Date: 2018-12-20
    Description: Recovery Glacier reaches far into the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Recent projections point out that its dynamic behavior has a considerable impact on future Antarctic ice loss (Golledge et al., 2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL072422). Subglacial lakes are thought to play a major role in the initiation of the rapid ice flow (Bell et al., 2007, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05554). Satellite altimetry observations have even suggested several actively filling and draining subglacial lakes beneath the main trunk (B. E. Smith et al., 2009, https://doi.org/10.3189/002214309789470879). We present new data of the geometry of this glacier and investigate its basal properties employing radio-echo sounding. Using ice sheet modeling, we were able to constrain estimates of radar absorption in the ice, but uncertainties remain large. The magnitude of the basal reflection coefficient is thus still poorly known. However, its spatial variability, in conjunction with additional indicators, can be used to infer the presence of subglacial water. We find no clear evidence of water at most of the previously proposed lake sites. Especially, locations, where altimetry detected active lakes, do not exhibit lake characteristics in radio-echo sounding. We argue that lakes far upstream the main trunk are not triggering enhanced ice flow, which is also supported by modeled subglacial hydrology.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: Article , isiRev
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2019-07-17
    Description: Radar altimetry measurements of the current satellite mission CryoSat-2 show an increase of Arctic sea ice thickness in autumn 2013, compared to previous years but also related to March 2013. Such an increase over the melting season seems unlikely and needs to be investigated. Recent studies show that the influence of the snow cover is not negligible and can highly affect the CryoSat-2 range retrievals if it is assumed that the main scattering horizon is given by the snow-ice interface. Our analysis of Arctic ice mass balance buoy records and coincident CryoSat-2 data between 2012 and 2014 adds observational evidence to these findings. Linear trends of snow and ice freeboard measurements from buoys and nearby CryoSat-2 freeboard retrievals are calculated during accumulation events. We find a positive correlation between buoy snow freeboard and CryoSat-2 freeboard estimates, revealing that early snow accumulation might have caused a bias in CryoSat-2 sea ice thickness in autumn 2013.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: Article , isiRev
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  • 6
    Publication Date: 2016-02-08
    Description: Radar altimetry measurements of the current satellite mission CryoSat-2 show an increase of Arctic sea ice thickness in autumn 2013, compared to previous years but also related to March 2013. Such an increase over the melting season seems unlikely and needs to be investigated. Recent studies show that the influence of the snow cover is not negligible and can highly affect the CryoSat-2 range retrievals if it is assumed that the main scattering horizon is given by the snow-ice interface. Our analysis of Arctic ice mass balance buoy records and coincident CryoSat-2 data between 2012 and 2014 adds observational evidence to these findings. Linear trends of snow and ice freeboard measurements from buoys and nearby CryoSat-2 freeboard retrievals are calculated during accumulation events. We find a positive correlation between buoy snow freeboard and CryoSat-2 freeboard estimates, revealing that early snow accumulation might have caused a bias in CryoSat-2 sea ice thickness in autumn 2013.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: Article , peerRev
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  • 7
    Publication Date: 2022-04-08
    Description: We present new high-resolution snow depth data on Arctic sea ice derived from airborne microwave radar measurements from the IceBird campaigns of the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) together with a new retrieval method using signal peakiness based on an intercomparison exercise of colocated data at different altitudes. We aim to demonstrate the capabilities and potential improvements of radar data, which were acquired at a lower altitude (200 ft) and slower speed (110 kn) and had a smaller radar footprint size (2-m diameter) than previous airborne snow radar data. So far, AWI Snow Radar data have been derived using a 2-18-GHz ultrawideband frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar in 2017-2019. Our results show that our method in combination with thorough calibration through coherent noise removal and system response deconvolution significantly improves the quality of the radar-derived snow depth data. The validation against a 2-D grid of in situ snow depth measurements on level landfast first-year ice indicates a mean bias of only 0.86 cm between radar and ground truth. Comparison between the radar-derived snow depth estimates from different altitudes shows good consistency. We conclude that the AWI Snow Radar aboard the IceBird campaigns is able to measure the snow depth on Arctic sea ice accurately at higher spatial resolution than but consistent with the existing airborne snow radar data of NASA Operation IceBridge. Together with the simultaneous measurements of the total ice thickness and surface freeboard, the IceBird campaign data will be able to describe the whole sea-ice column on regional scales.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: Article , isiRev
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  • 8
    Publication Date: 2015-04-07
    Description: Using in situ data from 2011 and 2013, we evaluate the ability of CryoSat-2 (CS-2) to retrieve sea-ice freeboard over fast ice in McMurdo Sound. This provides the first systematic validation of CS-2 in the coastal Antarctic and offers insight into the assumptions currently used to process CS-2 data. European Space Agency Level 2 (ESAL2) data are compared with results of a Waveform Fitting (WfF) procedure and a Threshold-First-Maximum-Retracker-Algorithm employed at 40% (TFMRA40). A supervised freeboard retrieval procedure is used to reduce errors associated with sea surface height identification and radar velocity in snow. We find ESAL2 freeboards located between the ice and snow freeboard rather than the frequently assumed snow/ice interface. WfF is within 0.04m of the ice freeboard but is influenced by variable snow conditions causing increased radar backscatter from the air/snow interface. Given such snow conditions and additional uncertainties in sea surface height identification, a positive bias of 0.14m away from the ice freeboard is observed. TFMRA40 freeboards are within 0.03m of the snow freeboard. The separation of freeboard estimates is primarily driven by the different assumptions of each retracker, although waveform alteration by variations in snow properties and surface roughness is evident. Techniques are amended where necessary, and automatic freeboard retrieval procedures for ESAL2, WfF and TFMRA40 are presented. CS-2 detects annual fastice freeboard trends using all three automatic procedures that are in line with known sea-ice growth rates in the region.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 9
    Publication Date: 2020-09-07
    Description: The Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) is an important dynamic component for the total mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet, as it reaches up to the central divide and drains 12% of the ice sheet. The geometric boundary conditions and in particular the nature of the subglacial bed of the NEGIS are essential to understand its ice flow dynamics. We present a record of more than 8000 km of radar survey lines of multi-channel, ultra-wideband radio echo sounding data covering an area of 24 000 km2, centered on the drill site for the East Greenland Ice-core Project (EGRIP), in the upper part of the NEGIS catchment. Our data yield a new detailed model of ice-thickness distribution and basal topography in the region. The enhanced resolution of our bed topography model shows features which we interpret to be caused by erosional activity, potentially over several glacial–interglacial cycles. Off-nadir reflections from the ice–bed interface in the center of the ice stream indicate a streamlined bed with elongated subglacial landforms. Our new bed topography model will help to improve the basal boundary conditions of NEGIS prescribed for ice flow models and thus foster an improved understanding of the ice-dynamic setting.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: Article , isiRev
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  • 10
    Publication Date: 2021-10-22
    Description: Migration of subglacial water underneath thick Antarctic ice is difficult to observe directly but is known to influence ice flow dynamics. Here, we analyze a 6-year time series of displacement maps from differential Sentinel-1 SAR interferometry (DInSAR) in the upstream region of Jutulstraumen Glacier. Our results reveal short-term (between 12 days and 1 year) interconnected subsidence- and uplift events of the ice surface, which we interpret as a pressure response to the drainage and filling of subglacial lakes. This indicates an episodic cascade-like water transport with longer quiescent phases in a dynamically stable glacial setting. Abrupt events appear in the DInSAR time series and are confirmed by ICESat-2 altimetry. The events can be traced for a 1-year period along a urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl63164:grl63164-math-0001175 km flow path. We are able to observe the migration of subglacial water with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution, providing a new observational baseline to further develop subglacial hydrological models.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: Article , isiRev
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