Numerous studies have revealed rapid changes in ICE discharge from greenland, with many of the ICE sheet s outlet glaciers having accelerated dramatically over the last two decades. These observations…

This is a Cooperative Agreement awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shared Services Center to the University of Washington (UW) for the Greenland Ice Mapping Project (GIMP-3). The project aims to extend the record of ice flow velocity measurements in Greenland from 2000 to 2022 using satellite data, in order to improve understanding of the rapid changes occurring in the Greenland ice sheet and their impact on sea level rise. The $1,950,983 award will leverage prior GIMP projects and take advantage of new satellite sensors to provide high-temporal and spatial resolution observations. The data collected will serve as a precursor dataset for the upcoming NASA-Indian Space Agency NISAR L-band SAR mission and complement NASA's ICESat-2 and IceBridge missions. This award does not have a set-aside designation.

Numerous studies have revealed rapid changes in ICE discharge from greenland, with many of the ICE sheet s outlet glaciers having accelerated dramatically over the last two decades. These observations are significant in that they show greenland s mass balance can fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably. Despite the large magnitudes of these changes, we do not yet understand the underlying processes controlling fast flow well enough to determine their long-term impact on sea level. Observations made over the last several years, including those from our prior projects, indicate less potential for run-away ICE loss than was initially feared when the first observations of rapid change were made. Nonetheless, outlet glacier dynamics remain a wild card in the sea-level projections as noted in the last two intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) assessments. Improving such predictions and gaining a firm understanding of the dynamics that drive mass balance requires annual to sub-annual observations of outlet glacier variability (velocity, elevation, and ICE front position) to avoid aliasing of the rapidly varying signals. Furthermore, although glaciers can change far more rapidly (sub-annual scales) than expected, decadal-scale observations are still required to provide the knowledge needed for century-scale projection. The technology for measuring velocity in greenland is mature as demonstrated through our ongoing and past greenland ICE mapping projects (gimp-1 & 2). Through these projects, we have repeatedly measured ICE velocity in greenland, establishing a record from 2000 to present. Through gimp-3 we will continue this effort to extend the record of ICE flow velocity through 2022, a period when greenland likely will continue to evolve rapidly with the current warming. The gimp-3 products will be entirely compatible with prior products, but we will take advantage of new sensors that have been launched in the last 5 years (landsat 8, sentinel 1A/b and sentinel 2A/b) to greatly improve temporal and spatial sampling. In addition, we will take advantage of the improved availability of landsat TM data to extend the record back in time to 1984. In conjunction with the results from our earlier projects, gimp-3 will provide an important nearly four-decade-long precursor data set for the nisar l-band SAR mission scheduled to launch near the end of the decade as a joint effort between NASA and the indian space agency. In addition, gimp-3 velocity measurements will provide a strong complement to the thinning measurements made by NASA s icesat-2 and icebridge missions.