Alaskan Glaciology from Space

Global totals of ice area and volume for mountain glaciers are small compared to the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, however, their present contribution to sea level rise (SLR) is on par with the ice sheets. Alaska Glaciers provide the largest contribution of all mountain glaciers to SLR. We discuss the use of spaceborne remote sensing techniques to study Alaska glacier contributions to sea level and suspected changes in ice velocity. Direct calculation of ice volume changes and rates of change on Kenai Peninsula glaciers are based on differences in USGS and SRTM DEMs and airborne Lidar profiles. A preliminary study of ice velocities on the Seward Glacier using L-band InSAR from PALSAR is presented.