Variability of glacier velocity and the influencing factors in the Saint Elias Mountains, Southeastern Alaska

Zhida Zhang; Ziqian Zhang; Hong Lin

doi:10.1117/12.3010277

15 November 2023 Variability of glacier velocity and the influencing factors in the Saint Elias Mountains, Southeastern Alaska

Zhida Zhang, Ziqian Zhang, Hong Lin

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12815, International Conference on Remote Sensing, Mapping, and Geographic Systems (RSMG 2023); 128151S (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3010277
Event: International Conference on Remote Sensing, Mapping, and Geographic Systems (RSMG 2023), 2023, Kaifeng, China

Abstract

The Saint Elias Mountains is an important glacierized area in southeastern Alaska. Glacier velocity is a key parameter for understanding glacier variation. In the context of global warming, glacier velocity variation has been widely studied, but the details of their inter-annual, intra-annual and seasonal variation are unclear. Using SAR images with offset tracking and SBAS method, the three-dimensional velocity across the study area were obtained. The vertical velocity was further divided into surface parallel flow (SPF) and non-surface parallel flow (nSPF), where SPF is produced by the downhill glacier movement under its own gravity, while nSPF is caused by the deformation inside the glacier. The inter-annual, intra-annual and seasonal variations of glacier velocity in the study area during 2017-2020 and their influencing factors were analyzed. The results showed that: (1) The velocity of different glaciers varied significantly. In the vertical direction, the nSPF component was significantly greater than SPF regardless of the glacier velocity itself. (2) There was no striking inter-annual variation of velocity distribution and magnitude between 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. We also found different variation patterns in different seasons. (3) We used the flowline of Valerie glacier and analyzed the intra-annual velocity variation throughout 2018. The velocity was significantly higher during winter and spring. (4) The seasonal variation of velocity was not completely consistent with that of temperature and precipitation, and was mainly affected by subglacial hydrological conditions.

(2023) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

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Zhida Zhang, Ziqian Zhang, and Hong Lin "Variability of glacier velocity and the influencing factors in the Saint Elias Mountains, Southeastern Alaska", Proc. SPIE 12815, International Conference on Remote Sensing, Mapping, and Geographic Systems (RSMG 2023), 128151S (15 November 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3010277

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KEYWORDS

Glaciers

Synthetic aperture radar

3D tracking

Deformation

Environmental monitoring

Ice

Satellites

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