Continuous Monitoring of Ice Motion and Discharge of Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets and Outlet Glaciers by Sentinel-1 A & B

The Sentinel-1 acquisition planning for polar regions provides almost uninterrupted observations of the Greenland Ice Sheet margin, key regions in Antarctica and other polar ice masses. The satellite constellation has thereby changed the landscape for satellite Earth observation (EO) in the polar regions, providing excellent opportunities for operational monitoring of key climate variables including ice velocity and glacier discharge. Based on Sentinel-1 SAR imagery, an archive of ice velocity maps covering the polar regions has been generated, encompassing the entire mission duration. The ice velocity maps, complemented with ice thickness and other EO datasets, form the basis for deriving ice flow, discharge fluctuations and trends at sub-monthly to multi-annual time scales, providing key input for ice dynamic and climate modelling. Our results underscore the value of long-term comprehensive monitoring of the polar ice masses, which is vital to gain insight for predicting their response to ongoing climate and ocean warming.