Glacier monitoring using real-aperture 94 GHz radar

William D. Harcourt* (Corresponding Author), Duncan A. Robertson , David G. Macfarlane , Brice Rea, Matteo Spagnolo, Douglas I. Benn, Mike R. James

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Close-range sensors are employed to observe glaciological processes that operate over short timescales (e.g. iceberg calving, glacial lake outburst floods, diurnal surface melting). However, under poor weather conditions optical instruments fail while the operation of radar systems below 17 GHz do not have sufficient angular resolution to map glacier surfaces in detail. This letter reviews the potential of millimetre-wave radar at 94 GHz to obtain high-resolution 3-D measurements of glaciers under most weather conditions. We discuss the theory of 94 GHz radar for glaciology studies, demonstrate its potential to map a glacier calving front and summarise future research priorities.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)116-120
Number of pages5
JournalAnnals of Glaciology
Volume63
Issue number87-89
Early online date1 Jun 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2023

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements: William D. Harcourt acknowledge PhD studentship funding from SAGES and EPSRC (grant number: EP/R513337/1). Funding for the Svalbard data was provided by a grant from the Research Council of Norway, project number 291644, Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System–Knowledge Centre, operational phase, as well as from the RGS, SAGES, and the University of St Andrews. We thank Guido Luiz (Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), GBSAR) and one anonymous reviewer for their constructive reviews of our manuscript.

Data Availability Statement

Data reported in this study will be made available within the next 2 years.

Keywords

  • glacier mapping
  • glacier monitoring
  • glaciological instruments and methods
  • remote sensing

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