Estimation of Annual Variation of Ice Extent and Flow Velocity of Campbell Glacier in East Antarctica Using COSMO-SkyMed SAR Images

Campbell Glacier in East Antarctica is one of the major glaciers that flow into Terra Nova Bay. It is necessary to estimate accurate extent and flow velocity of Campbell Glacier which influences the dynamics of mass balance of East Antarctic Ice Sheet. However, few studies on Campbell Glacier have been performed since 1990s. In this study, we obtained a total of 59 COSMO-SkyMed SAR images over Campbell Glacier from June 2010 to January 2012. We estimated variations in the extent of Campbell Glacier Tongue and flow velocity of Campbell Glacier by applying the image digitizing and the offset tracking by image matching. Although the extent of Campbell Glacier Tongue decreased in summertime due to ice calving and increased in wintertime, the variation in the extent was very small. Campbell Glacier Tongue retained mean extent of 75.5 km(2). The ice discharge of Campbell Glacier Tongue was estimated to be 0.58 +/- 0.12 km(3)/yr, which was bigger than in 1989. The flow velocity over Campbell Glacier Tongue was estimated to be from 181 to 268 m/yr that was faster than in 1988-1989, which contributed to the increase in the ice discharge of the glacier.