Glacier melt detection at different sites of Greenland ice sheet using dual-polarized Sentinel-1 images

Li, Gang; Chen, Xiao; Lin, Hui; Hooper, Andrew; Chen, Zhuoqi; Cheng, Xiao

doi:10.1080/10095020.2023.2252034

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 40 publications

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“…Therefore, we use a threshold of ∆σ 0 < -4.7 dB, which is the minimum value that produces a melt region mask which encompasses all OIB ice slab observations from spring 2017. This threshold value falls midway between the Hu et al ( 2022) threshold of -7 dB for discriminating wet snow facies and the common threshold of -3 dB for discriminating regions of surface melting (Nagler and Rott, 2000;Liang et al, 2021;Li et al, 2023), suggesting that this is a reasonable empirical choice that is consistent with prior work on wet snow mapping with S-1. Figure 2c shows the five-year melt extent mosaic, with the region we consider for ice slab detection (∆σ 0 < -4.7 dB) highlighted in the blue.…”

Section: Excluding the Dry Snow Zone And Firn Aquifer Regionssupporting

confidence: 78%

Sentinel-1 Detection of Ice Slabs on the Greenland Ice Sheet

Culberg,

Michaelides,

Miller

2023

Preprint

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Abstract. Ice slabs are multi-meter thick layers of refrozen ice that limit meltwater storage in firn, leading to enhanced surface runoff and ice sheet mass loss. To date, ice slabs have largely been mapped using airborne ice-penetrating radar, which has limited spatial and temporal coverage. This makes it difficult to fully assess the current extent and continuity of ice slabs or to validate predictive models of ice slab evolution that are key to understanding their impact on Greenland’s surface mass balance. Here, for the first time, we map the extent of ice slabs and similar superimposed ice facies across the entire Greenland Ice Sheet at 500 m resolution using dual-polarization Sentinel-1 (S-1) synthetic aperture radar data collected in winter 2016–2017. The S-1 inferred ice slab extent is in excellent agreement with ice-penetrating radar ice slab detections from spring 2017, as well as the extent of the visible runoff zone as mapped from optical imagery. Our results show that ice slabs are nearly continuous around the entire margin of the ice sheet, including regions in Southwest Greenland where ice slabs have not been previously identified. The algorithm developed here also lays the groundwork for long-term monitoring of ice slab expansion with current and future C-band satellite systems and highlights the added value of future L-band missions for near-surface studies in Greenland.

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Section: Excluding the Dry Snow Zone And Firn Aquifer Regionssupporting

confidence: 78%