Abstract: Abstract :
Polar ice sheets have a huge potential in terms of sea level rise. Recent measurements show clear evidence of a generalized speeding up of outlet glaciers in Greenland and West Antarctica and the question whether similar behaviors are to be expected in East Antarctica is all the more crucial as this latter represents the largest ice reservoir. Moreover, many glaciers in the Wilkes-Terre Adélie sector are in a supposedly unstable configuration due to a landward downsloping bedrock. As a consequence, the Astrolabe Glacier (Terre Adélie land) was selected as a test zone for extensive field surveys like surface and bedrock heights, surface velocities, mass balance measurements. Among those, the exact position of the grounding line is fundamental as it represents a strong transition in the flow regime when the basal drag of the grounded ice reduces to virtually zero when this latter starts to float over the ocean. We here propose a method based on GPS measurements along various profiles in order to identify the presence or not of tidal movements of the ice surface indicating floating ice. The amplitude of the tides of the order of a meter requires accurate data only possible with the differential GPS method. Processing of these GPS data along selected profiles allows us to propose a position for the grounding line (hydrostatic one) which we then compare to that obtained from remote technics (Landsat-7, ICESat, differential Satellite synthetic-aperture radar interferometry). The exact position of the grounding line as well as the exact surface height along a radar transect accross the glacier (giving the underlying bedrock topography) is also used to infer a mean density for the whole ice column by applying the hydrostatic criterion and a firn depth correction.