Data For: Grounding zone of Helheim Glacier, Greenland, from terrestrial radar interferometry
Data files
Dec 03, 2024 version files 388.18 MB
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Helheim_2024_GRL_Dryad.zip
388.18 MB
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README.md
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Abstract
Helheim Glacier, in East Greenland, is a major outlet glacier that discharges about 33 Gigatons of ice per year into the ocean. Helheim has been undergoing a retreat since 2003. Using a portable terrestrial radar interferometer that scans the glacier every 2 minutes, we characterize its regime of tidal flexure at the ice front margin in relation to oceanic tide, bed slope, and iceberg calving events. The data reveals the presence of a central bed ridge that acts as a fulcrum, with one side of the glacier moving in phase with the tide, while the other is moving out of phase with a reduced amplitude. We detect seawater intrusions of one full thickness beneath the glacier front at high tide. Following tabular calving events, most ice flexing ceases, indicating that the ice front becomes grounded and that calving events involve ice blocks that are already afloat.
README: Data For: Seawater intrusion at the grounding line of Jakobshavn Isbrae, Greenland, from Terrestrial Radar Interferometry
Description of the data and file structure
All the data are geocoded in Polar Stereographic format, with coordinate reference system (CRS) EPSG:3413
The dataset is compatible with GIS software (e.g. QGIS). The grounding line and grounding zone data are provided in shapefile format (.shp). Note that the companion files (.shx, .dbf, etc.) are essential for the proper functioning of the shapefile but are not intended to be viewed individually.
- DEM folder ; "ArcticDEM_20140731_msl.tif" is a DEM tile of ArcticDEM from 2014-07-31 in geotiff format, referenced to mean sea level.
- Differential_interferograms folder ; Differential_interferograms folder: There are 547 differential interferograms in geotiff format. The naming convention is "YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_HHMMSS-YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_HHMMSS.unw.geo.tif". The first "YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_HHMMSS" before hyphen "-" stands for the date and time of the primary interferogram. The second "YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_HHMMSS" after hyphen "-" stands for the date and time of the secondary interferogram. unw means unwrapped, geo means geocoded, and tif means geotiff format.
- Grounding_lines folder ; There are 6 shape files of grounding lines for Helheim. The naming convention is "GL_YYYYMMDD" by the date of YYYYMMDD. All grounding lines were hand-drawn by the author using differential interferograms in the "Differential_interferograms" folder.
- Grounding_zone folder ; There is 1 shape file of grounding zone in Helheim.
- Speed_maps folder ; There are 2 speed maps in geotiff format. All files use a unit of "km/yr". ref_speed_x.tif : speed map in east direction (geocoded) ref_speed_y.tif : speed map in north direction (geocoded)
Methods
The GPRI complex images in slant-range geometry were combined to generate interferograms and geocoded into an Earth-fixed grid. The pointing angle of the GPRI was refined by adjusting image features in the geocoded datga with a reference Landsat image. Phase unwrapping was conducted from a stationary point on the glacier side margin. Here, we form interferograms using data acquired 16-minutes apart and we difference tthe interferograms every 6 hours. We extend the analysis over a period of 6 days. From the differential interferograms, we locate the transition boundary where the ice surface is first displaced vertically, or first fringe of displacement, which is our proxy for the grounding line. By repeating the exercise over time, we measure how the grounding line migrates back and forth with tide.