Glacier Surface Topography Mapping for Satellite Radar Altimetry

Radar altimeter satellite missions such as CryoSat-2, Sentinel-3, and the upcoming CRISTAL are widely used for monitoring key parameters of land ice such as glacier mass balance change. The uncertainties of the data from these satellites produced over more complex ice caps and glaciers are poorly understood. This project aims to quantify these uncertainties thus increasing the value of these data and future data to be collected. Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) will be created through a combination of terrestrial and airborne (drone based) laser scanning of glaciers and ice caps accessible from Longyeabyen and Svea by snowmobile. In addition to the DEMs, snowpack data will be collected from snowpits in order to understand the radar scattering properties of these glaciers. These data will serve as a base for validating the radar altimeter data products and contribute to broader efforts of implementing Svalbard as a natural laboratory for satellite reference measurements.