Calving front monitoring at a subseasonal resolution: a deep learning application for Greenland glaciers

Abstract

Abstract. The mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet is strongly influenced by the dynamics of its outlet glaciers. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to accurately and continuously monitor these glaciers, especially the variation in their frontal positions. A temporally comprehensive parameterization of glacier calving is essential for understanding dynamic changes and constraining ice sheet modeling. However, many current calving front records are limited in terms of temporal resolution as they rely on manual delineation, which is laborious and not appropriate considering the increasing amount of satellite imagery available. In this contribution, we address this problem by applying an automated method to extract calving fronts from optical satellite imagery. The core of this workflow builds on recent advances in the field of deep learning while taking full advantage of multispectral input information. The performance of the method is evaluated using three independent test datasets. For the three datasets, we calculate mean delineation errors of 61.2, 73.7, and 73.5 m, respectively. Eventually, we apply the technique to Landsat-8 imagery. We generate 9243 calving front positions across 23 outlet glaciers in Greenland for the period 2013–2021. Resulting time series not only resolve long-term and seasonal signals but also resolve subseasonal patterns. We discuss the implications for glaciological studies and present a first application for analyzing the effect of bedrock topography on calving front variations. Our method and derived results represent an important step towards the development of intelligent processing strategies for glacier monitoring, opening up new possibilities for studying and modeling the dynamics of Greenland's outlet glaciers.