Abstract
This study investigates the growth and displacement of landfast ice along the shoreline of the Mackenzie Delta in Northwest Territories, Canada, by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) speckle offset tracking (SPO). Three-dimensional (3D) offsets were reconstructed from Sentinel-1 ascending and descending SAR images acquired on the same dates during the November 2017–April 2018 and October 2018–May 2019 annual cycles. The analysis revealed both horizontal and vertical offsets. The annual horizontal offsets of up to ~8 m are interpreted as landfast ice displacements caused by wind and ocean currents. The annual vertical offsets of approximately −1 to −2 m were observed from landfast ice, which are likely due to longer radar penetration up to the ice–water interface with increasing landfast ice thickness. Numerical ice thickness model estimates supported the conclusion that the cumulative vertical negative offsets correspond to the growth of freshwater ice. Time-series analysis showed that the significant growth and displacement of landfast ice in the Mackenzie Delta occurred between November and January during the 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 cycles.
Highlights
Recent climate change reports highlight the rapidly decreasing sea ice extent and thickness with record high temperatures in the Arctic [1,2,3,4]
In January 2018, the floating landfast ice showed horizontal offsets towards northwest, which correspond to the drift sea ice motions heading to west along the coastline (Figure 5a) and the SE wind (Figure 6a)
We developed a methodology for monitoring landfast ice displacement and, in some cases, ice thickness change
Summary
Recent climate change reports highlight the rapidly decreasing sea ice extent and thickness with record high temperatures in the Arctic [1,2,3,4]. Landfast ice plays important roles for coastal sediment and hydrological dynamics [9,10], marine mammal habitats [11], and traffic and hunting activities of northern coastal communities [12]. It serves as a nearshore platform for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic [13].
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