C41D-0740
Shape-from-shading using Landsat 8 and airborne laser altimetry over ice sheets: toward new regional DEMs of Greenland and Antarctica
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Mahsa S Moussavi1,2, Ted Scambos1, Terence M Haran3, Marin J Klinger3 and Waleed Abdalati4, (1)National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)National Snow and Ice Data Center, CIRES University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
We investigate the capability of Landsat 8's Operational Land Imager (OLI) instrument to quantify subtle ice sheet topography of Greenland and Antarctica. We use photoclinometry, or 'shape-from-shading', a method of deriving surface topography from local variations in image brightness due to varying surface slope. Photoclinomeetry is applicable over ice sheet areas with highly uniform albedo such as regions covered by recent snowfall. OLI imagery is available from both ascending and descending passes near the summer solstice period for both ice sheets. This provides two views of the surface features from two distinct solar azimuth illumination directions. Airborne laser altimetry data from the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) instrument (flying on the Operation Ice Bridge program) are used to quantitatively convert the image brightness variations of surface undulations to surface slope. To validate the new DEM products, we use additional laser altimetry profiles collected over independent sites from Ice Bridge and ICESat, and high-resolution WorldView-2 DEMs. The photoclinometry-derived DEM products will be useful for studying surface elevation changes, enhancing bedrock elevation maps through inversion of surface topography, and inferring local variations in snow accumulation rates.
