Thomas Schellenberger

Associated SVALI phD student

Thomas Schellenberger started his PhD at the University of Oslo in February 2012. He is working in the SVALI theme 2, estimating changes in ice-dynamics from remote sensing data. The PhD study aims at a better understanding of glacier movement and the interactions of satellite SAR signals with the glacier at different frequencies (X-, C- and L-Band).

Glacier velocities are extracted from SAR images using offset tracking algorithms. The flow fields are calculated by maximizing the normalized cross-correlation of the speckle pattern between image patches in two coregistered acquisitions. This technique can be applied, when the coherence of the amplitude is preserved over the repetition cycle of the sensor. Moreover, radar sensors have the advantage that images can be acquired over the whole year, including polar night and under cloudy conditions which are common for the main testsite, Svalbard. A multi-seasonal velocity map of Svalbard will be generated and used to estimate the calving flux from tidewater glaciers.

Another part of the study is the comparison of existing offset tracking techniques and the seasonal variability of the backscattering. Data from different sensors, e.g. TerraSAR-X, RADARSAT- 1/2, ERS- 1/2 and ALOS PALSAR are used for these purposes always having in mind the goal to establish a semiautomatic algorithm for glacier velocities extraction to easily expand the mapping to other regions in the world.

Short CV:

2010 - 2012 research associate within the Institute of Applied Remote Sensing of the European Academy in Bolzano (EURAC), Italy (snow cover and habitat monitoring in alpine areas with optical and SAR satellite imagery)

2011 Diploma in Geography from the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg, Germany in 2011. Thesis: Exploitation of high resolution X-Band SAR data for snow cover monitoring in alpine areas (in cooperation with the EURAC Institute of Applied Remote Sensing)

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