Terrestrial Scanning / Glacier, Iceberg and Snowfield Monitoring

Adam L. LeWinter et al.: Continuous Monitoring of Greenland Outlet Glaciers Using an Autonomous Terrestrial LiDAR System: Design, Development, and Testing at Helheim Glacier, Greenland 19.12.2014

Greenland’s fast-flowing tidewater outlet glaciers play a critical role in modulating the ice sheet’s contribution to sea level rise. Increasing evidence points to the importance of ocean forcing at the marine margins as a control on outlet glacier behavior, but a process-based understanding of glacier–ocean interactions remains elusive, in part because our current capabilities for observing and quantifying system behavior at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales are limited. The establishment of a comprehensive monitoring network covering Greenland’s largest outlet glacier–fjord systems is necessary to collect long-term data of critical in situ glaciological, oceanographic and atmospheric parameters needed to understand evolving relationships between different climate forcing and glacier flow.

The system used for acquiring monitoring data is comprised of a LiDAR Scanner RIEGL VZ-6000, a Power Stream, and a Communication and Control System. The long-range terrestrial laser scanner RIEGL VZ-6000 is protected by a custom environmental housing and fixed on a stainless steel platform that doubles as a volume for air circulation for heating/cooling the housing.

The poster was published by Adam L. LeWinter et al. and can be found here. For more information on the project visit the ATLAS Dashboard!