Monitoring Glacier Changes on the Antarctic Peninsula

Abstract

The Antarctic Peninsula is a region where some of the most spectacular changes in glacial systems took place during the last decades. Detected events include disintegration of ice shelves, acceleration and thinning of glaciers, variations in the limits between glacier facies, retreat of glacier fronts, etc. However, due to the lack of consistent systematic observations of the glacial systems, it is difficult to accurately predict the contribution of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers to sea level rise as well as further responses of these ice masses to climatic change and variation in oceanographic parameters. In this context, the activities of the GLIMS Regional Center Antarctic Peninsula and associated stewards aim at a synergistic utilization of various types of earth observation imagery, mainly optical and radar data. Although a complete glacier inventory is still lacking, we present the results of changes in glacier frontal positions and boundaries of glacier facies as well as the links to dynamical adjustments for various locations on the Antarctic Peninsula ice masses. An evaluation of ASTER digital elevation models generated for the Antarctic Peninsula is also discussed.