Calving, the process of which ice breaks off from a glacier terminus, is a major contributor to sea-level rise and poses increasing risks to coastal regions worldwide. Understanding these processes, particularly in the Arctic, is essential for predicting future impacts.
Through a recent phase of the ESA Coastal Erosion project Space for Shore, a collaboration between I-SEA (France) and NORCE (Norway), I have utilised over a thousand image acquisitions from the Sentinel-1 mission to monitor the evolution of Svalbard's coastal glaciers in detail.
By analysing Sentinel-1 data from 2015 to 2023, I have mapped glacier front lines and measured icebergs and growlers resulting from calving activity across Svalbard’s summer months, when calving intensities are at their highest.
Sentinel-1, part of the European Union’s Copernicus program, uses synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology to capture high-resolution data under challenging Arctic conditions, ensuring consistent, year-round monitoring of these critical glaciers.
A key finding from the analysis is the yearly extent of glacier fronts. By examining images captured between July and September, summer glacier fronts can be defined as areas where glacier extent is maintained 95% of the time during these months.
Additionally, by detecting the radar reflection from floating icebergs and growlers, I have developed a proxy for summer calving intensity: summers with higher occurrence of icebergs and growlers—a term for smaller ice fragments that break off from glaciers—indicate more active calving and accelerated glacier retreat, which are critical indicators of a glacier’s health and stability.