Characterizing the flow speeds and variability of Trinity and Wykeham Glaciers of the Prince of Wales Icefield, Canadian Arctic using a highly dense record of Synthetic Aperture Radar Data

Kurzfassung

The Trinity and Wykeham Glacier complex of the Prince of Wales Icefield in the Canadian High Arctic is one of the largest glacier basins within the region. Since 2000, both glaciers have accelerated, increased their discharge and retreated. Recent studies have indicated that this acceleration and retreat has been driven by significant thinning and floatation of glaciers. This acceleration and retreat is also further modulated by each glaciers bed topography. Here, we utilize a highly dense record of TerraSAR-X, Tandem-X, PAZ and Radarsat Constellation Mission data in order to further characterize the recent (since 2021) dynamics of each glacier at ~weekly timescales. This timeseries allows us to investigate variations in glacier flow for both glaciers at an unprecedent resolution. The results of this work will be used as inputs into glacier flow models and will be used to further investigate the dynamic response of a large tidewater terminating glacier to climate warming.