Extraction of glacier surface elevation and velocity in high Asia with ERS-1/2 Tandem SAR data: Application to Puruogangri ice field, Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Asian High Mountain glaciers play an important role in climate change and water cycle on both a global and regional scale. The Puruogangri is the largest modern ice field in the Tibetan Plateau with an area of 400 km2 in total, where the information on ice topography and glacier velocity are scarce due to the difficulty to reach. In this study, the glacier surface elevation and velocity in the Puruogangri were measured using satellite SAR interferometry applied to a pair of ERS-1/2 SAR Tandem images acquired during 1998. A maximum surface velocity of 0.12 m/day was observed in glacier tongues of the eastern portion of the Puruogangri, with an averaged velocity of 0.07 m/day. The results are consistent to the filed observations obtained in 2002. The elevation of the Puruogangri estimated by the Tandem InSAR is ranged from 5200 m to 6200 m which is comparable to the SRTM DEM.