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Glacier displacement on Comfortlessbreen, Svalbard, using 2-pass differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) with a digital elevation model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

Nora Jennifer Schneevoigt ,
Monica Sund ,
Wiley Bogren ,
Andreas Kääb  and
Dan Johan Weydahl
Nora Jennifer Schneevoigt
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1047, Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway (njs@geo.uio.no)
Monica Sund
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1047, Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway (njs@geo.uio.no)
Wiley Bogren
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1047, Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway (njs@geo.uio.no)
Andreas Kääb
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1047, Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway (njs@geo.uio.no)
Dan Johan Weydahl
Affiliation:
Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, Land and Air Systems Division, PO Box 25, NO-2027 Kjeller, Norway
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Abstract

Differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (DInSAR) exploits the coherence between the phases of two or more satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) scenes taken from the same orbit to separate the phase contributions from topography and movement by subtracting either phase. Hence pure terrain displacement can be derived without residual height information in it, but only the component of movement in line-of-sight direction is represented in a differential interferogram. Comfortlessbreen, a recently surging glacier, flows predominantly in this direction with respect to the European Remote Sensing satellites ERS-1 and ERS-2. Four C-band SAR scenes from spring 1996 were selected because of the high coherence between the respective pairs of the 1-day repeat-pass tandem mission of the ERS sensors. 2-pass DInSAR is performed in combination with a SPOT5 (Satéllite pour l'Observation de la Terre 5) SPIRIT (SPOT5 stereoscopic survey of Polar Ice: Reference Images and Topography) digital elevation model (DEM) from 2007. The different processing steps and intermediate image products, including unwrapping and generation of displacement maps, are detailed in order to convey the DInSAR processing chain to the beginner in the field of interferometry. Maximum horizontal displacements of 18 to 20 cm d−1 in ground range direction can be detected at the glacier terminus, while a few centimetres per day characterised most of the middle and upper portions of Comfortlessbreen in spring 1996.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 48 , Special Issue 1: Papers from the 11th Circumpolar Remote Sensing Symposium , January 2012 , pp. 17 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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