Ice thickness, remote sensing and sensitivity experiments using ice-flow modelling for major outlet glaciers of the Southern Patagonian Icefield (ITERATE)

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Matthias Holger Braun; Dr. Johannes Fürst
• Subject Area: Physical Geography
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 465209701

The project aims at improving our process understanding of glacier changes and their constraints and sensitivities to potential future perturbations. In order to achieve those goals we will acquire new data, update our existing comprehensive spatial databases and combine information into local-scale ice-flow modelling and an analysis of different forcing scenarios. Specifically we will acquire additional ice thickness data using helicopter-based ice penetrating radar surveys as well as airborne laser scanning surveys. The airborne surveys are carried our in close cooperation our international partners. We will temporally densify our spatial information on glacier extent from optical satellite data, compute surface velocity fields by intensity offset tracking from regular Sentinel-1 radar imagery and compute improved surface elevation and mass change estimates. We will assimilate our spatial fields in a state-of-the-art ice thickness reconstruction approach. Latter will be constraint by the new and existing ice thickness measurements from different groups as well as by novel bathymetric data in order to generate a new map of the bedrock topography. We will adapt our existing reconstruction approach since we will have to weight the different ice thickness measurements in regard to their quality. The last task comprises the setup of high-resolution ice dynamic models for specific glaciers, namely Perito Moreno, Upsala and Viedma glaciers. We will specifically test different calving routines implemented in ELMER/Ice and perform perturbation experiments in order to test the glaciers’ sensitivity on certain variables and parameters like bed elevation, basal friction, lake level, calving parameters and frontal ablation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants