ROV Mapping of Marine Terminating Glacier Fronts

The Arctic is transforming rapidly as glaciers melt and surge into the ocean, carrying with them historical records preserved in ice. While aerial surveys have provided insights from above, the submerged portions of marine-terminating glaciers remain largely uncharted. This project will address this gap by creating the first comprehensive, high-resolution 3D model of a glacier’s underwater front using a novel combination of multibeam sonar and hyperspectral imaging on a small Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). The multibeam sonar will generate a detailed physical map, capturing the glacier’s structure with unprecedented clarity, while hyperspectral imaging will extend this into the optical domain, revealing unique compositional details of the submerged ice. By integrating this underwater data with concurrent aerial imaging from the GlacierUAV (ES742704) project, we aim to produce the first fully documented view of a marine-terminating glacier from above and below, advancing our understanding of glacier dynamics and their interactions with the marine ecosystem.