Motivation: antarctic mass loss is an area of concern in the global water cycle and in sea level change

Almost all of antarctic ICE mass loss occurs along the coastline – half resulting from ocean-derived basal melting and half from dynamics related to calving and thinning. Measuring near-ICE-front surfaces at CM-scale vertical accuracies and at high frequency repeats is imperative to capturing the rapid and localized processes that influence ICE mass loss. These coastal antarctic sea ICE and ocean surfaces undergo sub-tidal fluctuations directly linked to processes that may impact ICE shelf and glacier melting ICE-flow buttressing and therefore stability. For instance at ICE-shelf fronts persistent polynyas (open water surrounded by sea ICE in the same location seasonally over multiple years) open and close through sea ICE melting or mechanical export followed by RE-formation. The polynyas subsequently affect ocean heat loss to the ICE and atmosphere ocean salinity and stratification. All of these processes intertwine at the ICE front and may either impact ICE-front buttressing or heat delivery to the ICE. Similarly as winds shift and landfast sea ICE forms along the coastline coastal currents may move or change in size impacting heat delivery and ocean circulation at the ICE front. Observing changes in ocean and ICE surfaces to discern these processes requires altimetry combined with complex corrections for ocean surface topography. Many of such corrections require using precise local surface measurements which have not been acquired in coastal antarctica.