Seasonal and Multi-annual Dynamic Monitoring of Belcher Glacier, Nunavut Canada using SAR Imagery

Abstract

Belcher Glacier is one of the largest tidewater outlets glaciers of Devon Ice Cap, and a key area of ice discharge to the ocean within the Canadian Arctic as a whole. The glacier covers an area of 1180 km2, and ranges in elevation from sea level to around 1920 m. Previous work has mapped the motion of Belcher Glacier at annual timesteps using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery (primarily Radarsat-2) and has found that the terminus section of the glacier has sped up in recent years. This observation has led to speculation that the glacier may be experiencing acceleration driven by thinning of the terminus region in response to warming Arctic air temperatures. The goal is to investigate the dynamics of Belcher Glacier and the processes that are driving its acceleration. Therefore, we are using a high-temporal time series from April 2022 to present acquired with TerraSAR-X Stripmap data with a repeat orbit of 11 days. We augment this record with results generated from imagery collected by the Radarsat Constellation Mission. The timeseries allows us to investigate variations in glacier flow at an unprecedent spatial and temporal resolution. This work will present the preliminary seasonal dynamics of Belcher Glacier over this time period and provide an intercomparison between glacier velocity results generated from different sensors.