Detecting spatial-temporal changes of glacier surge by satellite remote sensing

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24651001
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Environmental dynamic analysis
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: FURUYA Masato 北海道大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (60313045)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: glacier surge / SAR / West Kunlun Shan / Yukon / winter speed-up / glacier hydrology / remote sensing

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Glacier surge exhibits order(s)-of-magnitude faster surface velocities during the short active phase, accompanying terminus advances and ice-thickness changes. However, the generation mechanisms remain uncertain because of the limited observations of surging glaciers that repeat the active phase after the decades-long quiescent phase. Here we use satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images to examine the spatial-temporal changes in surface velocities, aiming to understand the mechanisms. We first identified surging glaciers at the West Kunlun Shan, NW Tibet. During the more-than-5-years-long active phase, we could detect clear seasonal modulations in their speeds that accelerated from fall to winter. In addition, we have discovered winter speed-up signals at the quiescent surge-type glaciers in Yukon, Canada. Namely, surge-type glaciers can accelerate even in the absence of surface meltwater input, suggesting the presence of englacial water and its rerouting toward the base.

Free Research Field

測地学, 地球惑星物理学