SAR Coherence Matrix as a Tool to Understand Behaviours of Ice Aprons

Abstract

This paper focuses on understanding the temporal behaviour of Ice Aprons (IAs) in the Mont-Blanc massif using high resolution SAR coherence matrix. InSAR coherence is estimated between all possible pairs of TerraSAR-X images acquired in 2009 and 2011 as well as between PAZ images acquired in 2020, both at 11-day interval. The results show that coherence values in summer are higher in 2020 than in 2009 and 2011. Coherence matrices are also computed for different regions of a glacial system. The results are compared with those of IAs to understand the differences in their temporal and physical behaviours. In summer, all IAs show an increase in coherence values, while other glacier regions show very low or no coherence. This information could be useful for automatic classification methods, where IAs could be classified separately as a different class from the other types of glaciers.