Utilizing InSAR for the measurement of ice flow velocities and ocean tide induced height changes of ice shelves at their grounding zones and surroundings

The knowledge of accurate surface topography heights and ice dynamics is a key issue for mass flux and mass balance calculations. In this study we use interferometry to derive surface heights and horizontal ice flow velocities for grounded parts in Western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Additionally, a feature and speckle tracking is performed to also estimate horizontal ice flow velocities for the Riiser-Larsen ice shelf and its grounding zone. This flow velocity field is afterwards used to remove the horizontal flow velocity component from the interferograms in order to obtain the vertical changes in the ice shelf area which are caused by ocean tides. The measured height changes are than compared to the predicted height changes of current ocean tide models which allow a validation of the models quality.