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Faculty of Graduate Studies

Connor Dean

  • BSc (University of Victoria, 2022)

Notice of the Final Oral Examination for the Degree of Master of Science

Topic

Year-Round Supraglacial Lake Monitoring in Northeast Greenland Using Synthetic Aperture Radar

Department of Geography

Date & location

  • Monday, August 25, 2025

  • 9:30 A.M.

  • David Turpin Building

  • Room B215

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

  • Dr. Randall Scharien, Department of Geography, University of Victoria (Supervisor)

  • Dr. Maycira Costa, Department of Geography, UVic (Member) 

External Examiner

  • Dr. Malin Johansson, Department of Physics and Technology, University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway 

Chair of Oral Examination

  • Dr. Pan Agathoklis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UVic 

Abstract

The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is one of largest contemporary contributors to global mean sea-level rise. Observations beginning in 1972 indicate its mass loss is accelerating and projected to continue throughout the century. Mitigating its impacts could require trillions of dollars, while the resulting higher seas may place hundreds of millions of people below the high-tide line by 2100. Mass loss of Greenland results from surface mass balance (SMB) and dynamic ice discharge. Supraglacial lakes affect both by modulating albedo and surface melt water routing and contribute to enhanced basal sliding by delivering melt water to the bed during drainage events.

Firstly, a novel C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) based methodology using Sentinel-1 and the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) data was developed to detect winter supraglacial lake drainage events at Nioghalvfjerdsbræ (79NG) and Zachariæ Isstrøm (ZI) in Northeast (NE) Greenland at high temporal resolutions. This enabled a decade long analysis of the spatiotemporal frequency of winter drainage events from 2014/2015 to 2023/2024 season. Winter drainage events occur during each winter season with substantial inter seasonal variability. Approximately half of all winter drainage events (46 out of 90) were involved in cascade events. Short increases in ice velocity resulting from drainage events were observed, while there was little evidence for the ability of drainage events to drive seasonal or interannual ice velocity increases. These findings advance our understanding of winter supraglacial lake dynamics, a phase that remains far less studied than melt-season processes.

A melt season analysis focused on finding optimal SAR parameters for supraglacial lake detection in Cand L-band was also conducted. We compared pairs of fully-polarimetric and compact-polarimetric images and found that SAR parameters VV/HH and the linear polarization ratio (LPR) enabled enhanced capability for the detection of supraglacial lakes relative to single polarization channels. Additionally, L-band VV/HH and LPR exhibited a unique signature for snow and ice lids that bury portions of lakes, discriminating them from open water and surrounding ice sheet.

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