Remote sensing of recent glacial outlet change in the Sulzberger ice shelf

Abstract

Glacial dynamics are a critically important processes that needs to be studied in order to accurately predict changes in sea level rise as future climate forcing becomes more prominent. In this study, five glacial outlets were measured in a thirty-year time series analysis from 1990 to 2022 in the Sulzberger Ice Shelf located in West Antarctica. While this ice sheet is located in a highly fluctuating region of Antarctic experiencing high mass loss, the Sulzberger Ice Shelf is found to be relatively stable, experiencing both advancing and retreating events, however since 2016, all glacial outlets in the region have been experiencing a retreat of the terminus position. When comparing two ice velocity datasets; NASA’s ITS_LIVE using optical satellite imagery and NASA’s MEaSUREs using a collection of satellite radar and laser altimeters, found that while both measurements followed similar patterns, the optical dataset using feature tracking algorithms consistently measured velocities at higher magnitudes. When analysing the ice velocity from 2001 to 2018, the Sulzberger Ice Shelf appears relatively stable. In a thirty year time series analysis of ice thickness from 1992 to 2020, five out of the seven locations studied within the ice sheet appear to be thinning.