Satellite-Derived Annual Glacier Surface Flow Velocity Products for the European Alps, 2015–2021

Abstract

Documenting glacier surface flow velocity from a longer-term perspective is highly relevant to evaluate the past and current state of glaciers worldwide. For this purpose, satellite data are widely used to obtain region-wide coverage of glacier velocity data. Well-established image correlation methods allow for the automated measurement of glacier surface displacements from satellite data (optical and radar) acquired at different dates. Although computationally expensive, image correlation is nowadays relatively simple to implement and allows two-dimensional displacement measurements. Here, we present a data set of annual glacier surface flow velocity maps at the European Alps scale, covering the period 2015–2021 at a 50 m × 50 m resolution. This data set has been quantified by applying the normalized cross-correlation approach on Sentinel-2 optical data. Parameters of the cross-correlation method (e.g., window size, sampling resolution) have been optimized, and the results have been validated by comparing them with in situ data on monitored glaciers showing an RMSE of 10 m/yr. These data can be used to evaluate glacier dynamics and its spatial and temporal evolution (e.g., quantify mass fluxes or calving) or can be used as an input for model calibration/validation or for the early detection of regional hazards associated with glacier destabilization.