Synthetic aperture radar interferometry study of the Brady Glacier, Alaska

This project will focus on the Brady glacier, a 39 km long by 8 km wide glacier in southern Alaska. Over the last two decades, researchers have paid a great deal of attention to large, fast-moving, surging glaciers like the Bering glacier in Alaska. However, smaller glaciers, such as the Brady glacier, have remained unstudied. Examination of smaller glaciers may more completely reveal the interactions among the factors and processes that control glacier dynamics. Our hypothesis is that smaller glaciers behave differently than larger glaciers. The motivation for this research is the observation that Brady glacier may be advancing, whereas other nearby glaciers are retreating rapidly.
The Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) analysis of our study area is a crucial step for learning about glacier dynamics of the Brady Glacier as it will provide the framework with which to monitor ice flow and to interpret other remotely sensed datasets. The images to be processed are all available ERS-1 and ERS-2 tandem mission scenes that have been already acquired from the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) at the Alaska Geophysical Institute through their collaborative agreements with NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). A total of 36 pairs scenes have been acquired and will be processed using ASF and NASA open source software during the following months. The resulting interferograms will be used to map surface deformation on the Brady glacier due to ice flow for the duration of the ERS-1 and ERS-2 Tandem Mission, which lasted for about eight months (October 1995 through June 1996).