Jianmin Zhou

Monitoring thickness and volume changes of the Dongkemadi Ice Field on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (1969–2000) using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and map data

Abstract This paper presents the first measurement of multi-decadal thickness and volume changes (1969–2000) of the Dongkemadi Ice Field (DIF) in the Tanggula Mountains, central Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China, using multi-source remote sensing data. These include the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) acquired in February, 2000, a DEM generated by digitising analogue topographic maps from 1969, and Landsat ETM+ imagery from 2000. Digital glacier outlines and GIS-based processing were used to calculate an elevation difference map to evaluate the relative elevation error of these two DEMs over ice-free areas. This method was also used to identify regions of glacier elevation thinning and thickening corresponding to glacier mass loss and gain. Analysis of 67,520 points on flat grass and rock terrain surrounding the DIF, with a slope less than 25°, showed a mean elevation difference of –0.90 m and a standard deviation of 5.58 m. A thickness change error within ±6 m was estimated. Between 1969 and 2000, 76.51% of the whole DIF area appeared to be thinning while 23.49% showed thickening. The average glacier surface thinning was –12.58 m with a standard deviation of 18.29 m and the estimated volume loss was 1.17 km3. The standard deviation of volume change was 0.0006 km3 over the DIF. A thinning rate up to 0.41±0.194 m a−1 or 0.038 km3 a−1 for the volume loss was observed for the whole ice field, which seems to be evidence for the ongoing retreat of glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. It was found that the spatial thickness change pattern derived from the remote sensing method was consistent with the thickness change results of the Small Dongkemadi Glacier (SDG) from field measurements. The estimated error of the annual thickness change rate was on the order of 5%. The relationship between elevation change and absolute glacier elevation over typical glaciers was also analysed, showing considerable variability. These changes have possibly resulted from increased temperature and decreased precipitation in this region.

Movement estimate of the Dongkemadi Glacier on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau using L-band and C-band spaceborne SAR data

We measured the complex motion of the Dongkemadi Glacier on Tanggula Mountain, Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, using two-pass differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) with satellite L-band and C-band SAR data. We derived detailed motion patterns of the Dongkemadi Glacier for the winter seasons of 1996, 2007 and 2008 using a European Remote sensing Satellite-1/2 (ERS-1/2) tandem InSAR pair acquired from descending orbit and a 46-day-separation Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) InSAR pair acquired from ascending orbit. In this article, we focus on an analysis of the glaciers surface motion features and a validation of the results from the InSAR using Global Positioning System (GPS) survey data. The experimental results show that the glacier flow distribution displays strong spatial variations depending on elevation. The glacier is divided into four clearly defined fast-flowing units in terms of spatial variability of the glacier speed, with evidence from both ERS and ALOS/PALSAR InSAR pairs (palsar – Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar). Among the four fast-flowing units, three are on the Dadongkemadi Glacier (DDG) and one on the Xiaodongkemadi Glacier (XDG). The flow patterns are generally characterized by terrain complexity for both glacier branches. The upper central area of the DDG shows slow movement, maybe due to the convergent and uptaking effect of ice from steep slope areas with opposite flow directions.

The backscattering characteristics of wetland vegetation and water-level changes detection using multi-mode SAR: A case study

Abstract A full understanding of the backscattering characteristics of wetlands is necessary for the analysis of the hydrological conditions. In this study, a temporal set of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, acquired at different frequencies, polarizations and incidence angles over the coastal wetlands of the Liaohe River Delta, China, were used to characterize seasonal variations in radar backscattering coefficient for reed marshes and rice fields. The combination of SAR backscattering intensity and an optical-based normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for long time series can provide additional insight into vegetation structural and its hydrological states. After identifying the factors that induce the backscattering and scattering mechanism changes, detailed analysis of L-band ALOS PALSAR interferometric SAR (InSAR) imagery was conducted to study water-level changes under different environmental conditions. In addition, ENVISAT altimetry was used to validate the accuracy of the water-level changes estimated using the InSAR technique—this is an effective tool instead of sparsely distributed gauge stations for the validation. Our study demonstrates that L-band SAR data with horizontal polarization is particularly suitable for the extraction of water-level changes in the study area; however, vertically-polarized C-band data may also be useful where the density of herbaceous vegetation is low at the initial stage. It is also shown that integrated analysis of the backscattering mechanism and interferometric characteristics using multi-mode SAR can considerably enhance the reliability of the water-level retrieval scheme and better capture the spatial distribution of hydrological patterns.

Analysis of synthetic aperture radar image characteristics for seismic disasters in the Wenchuan earthquake

More than 69,000 people died following the magnitude 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008. Bad weather hampered relief efforts, and in some cases rescuers had to trek into the disaster area on foot and search for trapped survivors by hand as roads were blocked by debris. Due to travel difficulties, spatial information needs to be extracted in the disaster area by remote sensing techniques. The main problem focused on in this paper is how to use the all-weather and all-day/night capability of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to extract primary seismic disaster information after the earthquake. Using air- and space-borne SAR images with different bands, polarizations and incidence angles, including multi-polarization X-band air-borne data, C-band polarimetric Radarsat-2, X-band TerraSAR-X with high resolution, multi-polarization X-band COSMO-SkyMed and L-band multi-polarization ALOS-PalSAR space-borne data, we perform image characteristics analysis of landslides. Obvious differences can be recognized between old and new landsides in SAR images with different bands. Multi-polarization SAR can play an important role in landslide discrimination. Two SAR images at different incidence angles do not provide much more information if the difference between the two angles is small. Landslide recognition accuracy strongly depends on the direction of view, especially for large incidence angles, in which case the characteristic difference for landslide recognition is great. There are different polarization responses between a landslide and its surroundings that can be used to recognize the landslide. Interferometric SAR images, on the other hand, do not provide good recognition capability due to temporal decorrelation and resolution. Meanwhile, information extraction of barrier lakes using different resolution and incidence angle SAR images is analyzed in this paper; small incidence angles and high resolutions improve the object recognition and information extraction of barrier lakes.

Permafrost environment monitoring on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau using time series ASAR images

The permafrost in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) has long been the focus of many researchers. In this study, we first use the method that integrates synthetic aperture radar (SAR) intensity and phase information to monitor permafrost environment in the Beiluhe Region, using time series advanced SAR images. The backscattering coefficients (σ0) and deformation were extracted for the main features, and the influences of meteorological conditions to them were also quantified. The results show that both the change in σ0 and surface deformation are closely related to the active layer, and the deformation is also affected by the permafrost table. First, over meadow and sparse vegetation regions, σ0 rose about 6.9 and 4 dB from the freezing to thawing period, respectively, which can be mainly attributed to the thaw of the active layer and increased precipitation. Second, seasonal deformation, derived from the freeze-thaw cycle of the active layer, was characteristic of frost heave and thaw settlement and exhibited a negative correlation with air temperature. Its magnitude was larger than 1 cm in a seasonal cycle. Last, significant secular settlement was observed, with rates ranging from –16 to 2 mm/a, and it was primarily due to the thaw of the permafrost table caused by climate warming.

Glacier Thickness Change Mapping Using InSAR Methodology

This letter presents a novel method for high-precision estimation of mountain glacier thickness change from the conventional interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) interferograms and multiaperture InSAR measurements. The method exploits the two components of displacement along the line of sight of radar beam and along track for deriving the glacier thickness change. To demonstrate the method, we estimate the glacier thickness change for the Dongkemadi Glacier in Tibet Plateau, China. The performance of this method is validated by field survey data. The results obtained with three InSAR pairs covering the Dongkemadi Glacier in the same seasons of three years show considerable spatial variability. The results in this study are, to our knowledge, the first ones with such a method, and they demonstrate the feasibility of the approach to obtain and analyze the mountain glacier thickness change.

A method for monitoring hydrological conditions beneath herbaceous wetlands using multi-temporal ALOS PALSAR coherence data

Reed marshes, the world’s most widespread type of wetland vegetation, are undergoing major changes as a result of climate changes and human activities. The presence or absence of water in reed marshes has a significant impact on the whole ecosystem and remains a key indicator to identify the effective area of a wetland and help estimate the degree of degeneration. Past studies have demonstrated the use of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) to map water-level changes for flooded reeds. However, the identification of the different hydrological states of reed marshes is often poorly understood. The analysis given in this paper shows that L-band interferometric coherence is very sensitive to the water surface conditions beneath reed marshes and so it can be used as classifier. A method based on a statistical analysis of the coherence distributions for wet and dry reeds using InSAR pairs was, therefore, investigated in this study. The experimental results were validated by in-situ data and showed very good agreement. This is the first time that information about the water cover under herbaceous wetlands has been derived using interferometric coherence values. This method can also effectively and easily be applied to monitor the hydrological conditions beneath other herbaceous wetlands.

A new SAR superresolution imaging algorithm based on adaptive sidelobe reduction

The paper provides an efficient extrapolation algorithm to enhance resolution as well as reduce sidelobes, which is based on ASR. The processing of algorithm is simple to operate. Simulation experiments show the validity of the algorithm. Comparing to the Fourier method, the proposed algorithm obtains better results.

The Glacier Identification using SAR Interfermetric and Polarimetric Information in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

For climatological and hydrological investigations, the areas covered by glacier and their spatial variability are important parameters, particularly in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. A interferometric SAR technique not only can produce a high-resolution digital elevation models but also can identify the surface object with coherence coefficients. This property of SAR polarimetry is particularly useful in classification. In this paper we analyze to demonstrate the method and result for the glacier identification integrated intensity of backscattering from Envisat/ASAR images, coherence coefficients of repeat pass interferometry from ASAR and ALOS/PalSAR, and full polarimetric SAR from PalSAR.

Estimation the motion of Dongkemadi Glacier in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau using differential SAR interferometry with corner reflectors

Synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) has been proven to provide very useful information for the glacier movement. Although the main potential of InSAR for glacier movement estimation has been shown in several case studies, its successful application is often limited by decorrelation. Due to the backscattering characteristic change of the individual scatters on glacier surface, the coherence of glacier surface will be entirely missing for the long temporal baseline (such as 35 days or more). The corner reflectors, duo to their design, provide a very clear and stable target response (both amplitude and phase) to the radar at any acquisition time. They dont suffer from decorrelation effects of conventional DInSAR [1–3]. In this paper, we first attempt to use the differential InSAR technique with corner reflectors (CR-DInSAR) to monitor and detect the motion of mountain glacier in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. This method will be more effective than the conventional D-InSAR, as well as nature persistent scatters method.