GFZ German research centre for geo sciences

Glacier dynamics

Glaciers are a valuable indicator of climate change, as their length, speed and mass balance, among other parameters, react directly to changes in climatic conditions.

Remote sensing measurements provide unique opportunities to image and monitor elevation changes and kinematics of glacier surfaces with unprecedented levels of detail. New generation satellites, such as the TerraSAR-X / TanDEM-X mission or Sentinel-1, acquire high-resolution, high-temporal sampling data that enables the analysis of inter-annual, but also intra-annual glacier changes.

In view of the ever-growing amount of data that needs to be processed to analyze seasonal glacial changes, we aim to further improve existing analytics, automation, and big data handling. The improvements achieved in case studies of local study areas can then be applied by the cryosphere community to regional catchment areas.

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