MONITORING TEMPERATE GLACIER : COMBINED USE OF MULTI-DATE TERRASAR-X IMAGES AND CONTINUOUS GPS MEASUREMENTS

This paper highlights the contribution of TerraSAR-X (TSX) High Resolution (HR) images for temperate glacier monitoring. A series of 14 images have been acquired since October 2007 on the Mont-Blanc test area. This area involves well-known temperate glaciers which have been monitored and instrumented ("stick" for annual displacement/ablation, GPS, cavitometer for basal displacement...) for more than 50 years. The combined use of insitu measurements and multi-temporal images allows to improve the potential of HR SAR measurements. Interpretation of HR images, investigation of interferometric and correlation methods, and the first glacier displacement results are presented.