QUANTIFICATION OF GLACIER DEPLETION IN THE CENTRAL TIBETAN PLATEAU BY USING INTEGRATED SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GRAVIMETRY

Although not the primary mission of the Swarm three-satellite constellation, the sensors on these satellites are accurate enough to measure the melting and accumulation of Earth’s ice reservoirs, precipitation cycles, floods, and droughts, amongst others. Swarm sees these changes well compared to the dedicated GRACE satellites at spatial scales of roughly 1500 km. Swarm confirms most GRACE observations, such as the large ice melting in Greenland and the wet and dry seasons in the Amazon.

We present a new radar-altimeter-satellite-measured river surface height dataset. Our novel approach is broadly applicable rather than location specific. We were able to measure rivers that account for > 34 % of global drainage area with an accuracy comparable to much of the established literature. 389 of our 932 measurement locations include river gage validation. We have focused our efforts on creating a consistent, well-documented data product to encourage use by the broader science community.

Thorough and continued monitoring of ice-sheet dynamics is of utmost importance for accurate predictions of ice-sheet behavior in the future. We present a new Antarctic ice velocity map at a 100-m grid spacing inferred from Landsat 8 imagery data. The datasets will allow for a comprehensive continent-wide investigation of ice dynamics and mass balance with the existing and future ice velocity measurements, provide control and calibration for ice-sheet modelling.

We constructed two present-day continent-wide ice flow maps on Antarctica, and estimated its mass balances over the last decade. An increased mass discharge from Wilkes Land, East Antarctica was found, contrary to the long-standing belief that accelerated mass loss primarily originates from West Antarctica and Antarctic Peninsula. Our maps allow the first continent-wide assessment of mass discharge changes in the last decade, which will contribute to our understanding of Antarctic ice dynamics.

This paper investigates the possibility of monitoring small water bodies through Envisat altimetry observation. A novel approach is introduced to identify qualified and non-qualified altimetry measurements by assessing the waveform shapes for each returned radar signal. This research indicates that small lakes (extent < 100 km2) and medium-sized rivers (e.g., 200--800 m in width) can be successfully monitored by satellite altimetry.