Polarimetric and interferometric investigation of glacier subsurface structures

Abstract

A particular pattern, related to the surface and subsurface ice properties, was found at the Russel glacier, also known as K-Transect, in western Greenland in an experimental airborne SAR dataset. The scattering structure of a glacier can look uniquely on SAR images, depending on the area. Either they could be described as homogeneous areas with uniform layers or as quite heterogeneous areas that differ strongly from each other. First analyzes demonstrate very heterogenic and complex scattering patterns in the ablation zone of the Russell glacier. In L- and P-band, these features are more pronounced due to a deeper signal penetration into the ice sheet. Based on polarimetric and tomographic analyses, the idea of two different ice types is introduced, whose glaciological origin is not yet fully understood. In order to gain a better conceptual understanding of these complex scattering mechanisms and their vertical structures in the ice subsurface, (Pol)-InSAR modelling for one of the ice types will be introduced.