Multi-Temporal Sentinel-1 SAR Monitoring of Glacier Dynamics and Snowmelt Supported by Sentinel-2 MSI and Sentinel-3 SLSTR Surface Albedo Mapping on Livingston Island, Antarctica

Maritime Antarctic glaciers are highly sensitive to atmospheric forcing and surface energy conditions, making them important indicators of regional climate variability. This study investigates interannual variability in glacier surface conditions and snowmelt on the Hurd Peninsula, Livingston Island, Antarctica, by integrating multi-temporal Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Sentinel-2 MSI and Sentinel-3 SLSTR optical observations, and ground-based meteorological data.

A multi-temporal Sentinel-1 C-band SAR dataset covering the 2016–2025 austral summer periods was analysed using IW GRD imagery acquired predominantly in HH polarization and descending orbit. Processing included orbit correction, thermal-noise removal, radiometric calibration to σ⁰, speckle filtering, terrain correction, co-registration, and harmonization to a 10 × 10 m grid. Calibrated HH backscatter, Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) texture measures, and multi-temporal information were integrated to characterize glacier-surface variability. Complementary Sentinel-2 MSI and Sentinel-3 optical observations will be used to derive surface albedo at different spatial scales. Temporally comparable austral-summer acquisitions will support interannual analysis of mean/median albedo, albedo ranges, and low-albedo zones. These parameters will be compared with SAR-derived Water/Wetness and Wet Snow/Melting classes using correlation coefficients (r) and coefficients of determination (R²), where supported by the data. Meteorological observations from the Juan Carlos I automatic weather station will support interpretation.

Sentinel-1 reveals pronounced interannual variability in melt-related conditions. Water/Wetness occupied approximately 10–15% during 2016–2021, increasing to ~55% in 2023 and ~40% in 2024. Wet Snow/Melting exceeded 60% in selected years, while Sea Ice/Firn generally declined after 2021. The strongest variability occurred along glacier margins and low-elevation coastal sectors, whereas higher-elevation accumulation areas remained comparatively stable.

The integrated framework combines radar-derived melt indicators, optical surface-albedo variability, and meteorological forcing to quantitatively assess glacier-surface response to interannual climate variability in maritime Antarctica.