• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.343-353
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• 2018

Ocean tides in Antarctica are not well constrained mostly due to the lack of tidal observations. Especially, tides underneath and around ice shelves are uncertain. InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) data has been used to observe ice shelf movements primarily caused by ocean tides. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to estimate tidal constituents underneath the Sulzberger ice shelf, West Antarctica, solely using ERS-1/2 tandem mission DInSAR (differential InSAR) observations. In addition, the tidal constituents can be estimated in a high-resolution (~200 m) grid which is beyond any tidal model resolution. We assume that InSAR observed ocean tidal heights can be derived after correcting the InSAR data for the effect of atmospheric loading using the inverse barometric effect, solid earth tides, and ocean tide loading. The ERS (European Remote Sensing) tandem orbit configuration of a 1-day separation between SAR data takes diminishes the sensitivity to major tidal constituents including $K_1$ and $S_2$. Here, the dominant tidal constituent $O_1$ is estimated using 8 differential interferograms underneath the Sulzberger ice shelf. The resulting tidal constituent is compared with a contemporary regional tide model (CATS2008a) and a global tide model (TPXO7.1). The InSAR estimated tidal amplitude agrees well with both models with RMS (root-mean-square) differences of < 2.2 cm and the phase estimate corroborating both tide models to within $8^{\circ}$. We conclude that fine spatial scale (~200 m) Antarctic ice shelf ocean tide determination is feasible for dominant constituents using C-band ERS-1/2 tandem mission InSAR.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.73-81
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• 2005

We construct improved geocentric digital elevation model (DEM), estimate tidal dynamics and ice stream velocity over Sulzberger Ice Shelf, West Antarctica employing differential interferograms from 12 ERS tandem mission Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images acquired in austral fall of 1996. Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimetry profiles acquired in the same season as the SAR scenes in 2004 are used as ground control points (GCPs) for Interferometric SAR (InSAR) DEM generation. 20 additional ICESat profiles acquired in 2003-2004 are then used to assess the accuracy of the DEM. The vertical accuracy of the OEM is estimated by comparing elevations with laser altimetry data from ICESat. The mean height difference between all ICESat data and DEM is -0.57m with a standard deviation of 5.88m. We demonstrate that ICESat elevations can be successfully used as GCPs to improve the accuracy of an InSAR derived DEM. In addition, the magnitude and the direction of tidal changes estimated from interferogram are compared with those predicted tidal differences from four ocean tide models. Tidal deformation measured in InSAR is -16.7cm and it agrees well within 3cm with predicted ones from tide models. Lastly, ice surface velocity is estimated by combining speckle matching technique and InSAR line-of-sight measurement. This study shows that the maximum speed and mean speed are 509 m/yr and 131 m/yr, respectively. Our results can be useful for the mass balance study in this area and sea level change.