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Glaciers and Icebergs seen fro...
Glaciers and Icebergs seen from space
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Glaciology is a major discipline for understanding the climate system and predicting its future evolution. Scientists must develop models locally for various regions, including mountainous areas, ice caps and at sea, to study the transformation of snow and ice, as well as the impacts of melting on water levels.
One striking example is on the Sitkine Ice Cap, located on the Canada-Alaska border. The Rocky Mountains trap moist Pacific air masses, fueling the formation of massive glaciers that flow through the region – captured in stunning detail by the SPOT satellite.
This multi-sensor dataset enables the long-term monitoring of key glaciological processes such as:
- Iceberg tracking
- Glacier retreat and front shrinkage
- Icecap thickness assessments and thinning
- Annual ice melt and its contribution to water volume
- Glacier The thinning of ice caps
- Glacier shrinkage
- Sea level rising monitoring
Using 3D models, scientists can analyse historical site data and protect future changes in mountainous, polar and coastal areas, helping forecast rising sea levels.
With a surface area of 3,900 m², iceberg A23a is the largest iceberg in the world. It calved from Antarctica in 1986 and is currently drifting towards the island of South Georgia. It was last captured by the SPOT satellite in February 2025.
- Year round monitoring without the need for field expeditions, especially in remote regions
- Mission planning in preparation for scientific expeditions
- Development of Artificial Intelligence for automated analysis
- Construction of local and global models
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