Brief communication: Mapping Greenland’s perennial firn aquifers using enhanced- resolution L-band brightness temperature image time series | CU Experts

Abstract. Enhanced-resolution L-band brightness temperature (TB) image time series collected over the Greenland ice sheet by NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite are used to map Greenland’s perennial firn aquifers from space. Exponentially decreasing L-band TB signatures are correlated with perennial firn aquifer areas identified via the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) Multi-Channel Coherent Radar Depth Sounder (MCoRDS) flown by NASA’s Operation IceBridge (OIB) campaign. An empirical algorithm to map extent is developed by fitting these signatures to a set of sigmoidal curves. During the spring of 2016, perennial firn aquifer areas are found to extend over ~66,000 km2.;

Miller JZ; Long DG; Jezek KC; Johnson JT; Brodzik MJ; Shuman CA; Koenig LS; Scambos TA

VIVO