Experience of Satellite Trackers’ Application for Watching Glaciers in the Arctic

Abstract

The engineering and operational features of the satellite trackers iceST/40-Glacier developed in the Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, and produced by Marlin-Yug Ltd are considered. The trackers are developed to monitor the glaciers' movements. The glaciers' motion characteristics are calculated using the tracker coordinates measured by the satellite GPS receiver and distributed among the users due to the worldwide location and data collection system Argos-2. The satellite tracker construction is simple enough to place it on a glacier. It represents a specially developed measurement algorithm that permits, first, to apply a standard low-cost GPS receiver and, second, to define location with accuracy not exceeding 1.7 m. The measurements required to determine location are done once a week. The tracker lifetime is not less than 24 months. Statistical analysis of the long-term field experiments carried out on the Arctic archipelagos' glaciers results in drawing a conclusion that, the iceST/40-Glacier satellite trackers, being used as a basis, make creation of reliable, technological and low-cost network for regular monitoring the glaciers' movements possible and expedient. The information obtained due to such a network permits to increase navigation safety in the Arctic Ocean marginal seas and can be used for verifying remote sensing data.