Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 3 December 1993:
Vol. 262. no. 5139, pp. 1525 - 1530
DOI: 10.1126/science.262.5139.1525
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Satellite Radar Interferometry for Monitoring Ice Sheet Motion: Application to an Antarctic Ice Stream

Richard M. Goldstein 1, Hermann Engelhardt 2, Barclay Kamb 2, and Richard M. Frolich 3

1 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109
2 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
3 British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge CB3 OET, United Kingdom

Satellite radar interferometry (SRI) provides a sensitive means of monitoring the flow velocities and grounding-line positions of ice streams, which are indicators of response of the ice sheets to climatic change or internal instability. The detection limit is about 1.5 millimeters for vertical motions and about 4 millimeters for horizontal motions in the radar beam direction. The grounding line, detected by tidal motions where the ice goes afloat, can be mapped at a resolution of sim0.5 kilometer. The SRI velocities and grounding line of the Rutford Ice Stream, Antarctica, agree fairly well with earlier ground-based data. The combined use of SRI and other satellite methods is expected to provide data that will enhance the understanding of ice stream mechanics and help make possible the prediction of ice sheet behavior.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Remote sensing: hydrology.
Q. Tang, H. Gao, H. Lu, and D. P. Lettenmaier (2009)
Progress in Physical Geography 33, 490-509
   Abstract »    PDF »
Developments in synthetic aperture radar interferometry for monitoring geohazards.
M. Riedmann and M. Haynes (2007)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 283, 45-51
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Changes in ice dynamics and mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet.
E. Rignot (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc A 364, 1637-1655
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Inland Thinning of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica.
A. Shepherd, D. J. Wingham, J. A. D. Mansley, and H. F. J. Corr (2001)
Science 291, 862-864
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Remote sensing: sensors and applications.
D. N.M. Donoghue (2000)
Progress in Physical Geography 24, 407-414
   PDF »
Tributaries of West Antarctic Ice Streams Revealed by RADARSAT Interferometry.
I. Joughin, L. Gray, R. Bindschadler, S. Price, D. Morse, C. Hulbe, K. Mattar, and C. Werner (1999)
Science 286, 283-286
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Sea level.
C. Woodroffe (1994)
Progress in Physical Geography 18, 436-451
   PDF »
Probing Ice Sheets with Imaging Radar.
R. K. Raney and R. K. Raney (1993)
Science 262, 1521-1522
   PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)