Researchers Calculate Ice Flow Velocity in Antarctica Using Satellite Imagery

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have found that the best way to track the environmental health of Antarctica is to follow the melting of ice.

It is an important parameter to measure the environmental health of Antarctica because it greatly influences the world's climate. 

The fifth largest continent covered in ice sheet, Antarctica is a .5 million square miles of mountainous snow desert. The outlet glaciers and ice streams channel chunks of ice into the ocean where they melt in warm waters thereby increasing the sea levels and causing a threat to the coastal areas. It is a chain reaction, increase in ice melting causes increase in sea levels followed by negative ecological effects worldwide.

"The ice sheet in Antarctica is the largest fresh water reservoir on Earth, and if it were totally melted, the sea level would rise by more than 60 meters. So it is quite important to measure the ice mass loss there," Shujie Wang, a doctoral student in geography in UC's McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, said in a press statement.

In this study, the researchers collected data on Antarctica's ice motion using remote sensing images taken by satellites. They calculated the ice flow velocity because the rate at which the ice moves is directly proportional to its rate of loss.

The researchers hope to get a better understanding of the process of ice motion by calculating the velocity at different intervals, and intend to predict the alterations that would occur across this province of penguins.

Wang will present this research "Analysis of Ice Flow velocity Variations on Antarctic Peninsula During 1986-2012 Based on Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing Image Time Series," at the Association of American Geographers annual meeting that is being held in Los Angeles from 9-13 April 2013.