Greenland Ice Sheet displacement on the K-Transect, south-west Greenland Ice Sheet from in-situ GNSS measurements
GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02238
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Summary
Abstract:
This dataset consists of continuous position measurements acquired by Global Positioning Systems (GPS) between spring 2009 and spring 2013 at up to 9 sites in the proximity of the 'K-Transect' on the south-western flank of the Greenland Ice Sheet, at elevations between ~500 and 1700 m, supplemented by air temperature and surface height measurements. The original intention of the data collection was to understand the coupling between surface hydrology, subglacial hydrology and ice sliding. The GPS measurements were made at 30-second or 10-second resolution. They are post-processed kinematically by reference to an off-ice base station to yield corrected geodetic coordinates (Level-1). Along- and across-track displacements and ice velocity are derived at each site at daily, sub-seasonal, seasonal and/or annual resolution (Level-2).
Data acquisition and processing were funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) under grants NE/F021399/1, NE/H024964/1 and studentships: NE/152830X/1, NE/J500021/1, NE/H526794/1; the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland; and The University of Edinburgh. KELY base station data were supplied by the International GNSS Service (IGS). Data reprocessing undertaken to produce version 3 of this dataset was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation under grant TMSG2_218095 - FlowState.
Keywords:
GPS, Greenland, ice flow, melting
Citation
Tedstone, A., Nienow, P., Sole, A., Bartholomew, I., Cowton, T., Mair, D., & King, M. (2026). Greenland Ice Sheet displacement on the K-Transect, south-west Greenland Ice Sheet from in-situ GNSS measurements (Version 3.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/0adac071-a2fa-41a4-952f-4a418fa32e2e
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PROJECT HOME PAGE
- https://gtr.ukri.org/search/project?term=NE/F021399/1
- https://gtr.ukri.org/search/project?term=NE/H024964/1
REFERENCE MATERIALS
- https://doi.org/10.1002/2013gl058933
- https://doi.org/10.1002/2014gl062386
- https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50764
- https://doi.org/10.1007/pl00012778
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.04.014
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2011jf002220
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1315843110
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.289.5478.426
- https://doi.org/10.3189/172756504781829747
- https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.7356937
- https://dspace.mit.edu/entities/publication/ad524e37-2327-42b3-9498-a43a4f639f1c
- https://geoweb.mit.edu/gg/
SOFTWARE PACKAGES
- https://github.com/atedstone/gnssice
- https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/dev/user_guide/io.html#io-hdf5
- https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/dev/user_guide/io.html#io-parquet
Constraints
| Access Constraints: | No restrictions apply. |
|---|---|
| Use Constraints: | Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/. |
Basic Information
| Creation Date: | 2026-07-08 |
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| Dataset Progress: | Complete |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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| Personnel: | |
| Name | UK Polar Data Centre |
| Role(s) | Metadata Author |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Andrew Tedstone |
| Role(s) | Technical Contact, Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Lausanne |
| Name | Peter Nienow |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Name | Andrew Sole |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Name | Ian Bartholomew |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Name | Tom Cowton |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Name | Douglas Mair |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Aberdeen |
| Name | Matt A King |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Tasmania |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
Additional Information
| Reference: | Bartholomew, I. D., Nienow, P., Sole, A., Mair, D., Cowton, T., King, M. A., & Palmer, S. (2011). Seasonal variations in Greenland Ice Sheet motion: Inland extent and behaviour at higher elevations. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 307(3-4), 271-278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.04.014 Bartholomew, I., Nienow, P., Sole, A., Mair, D., Cowton, T., & King, M. A. (2012). Short-term variability in Greenland Ice Sheet motion forced by time-varying meltwater drainage: Implications for the relationship between subglacial drainage system behavior and ice velocity. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 117(F3). Portico. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011jf002220 Sole, A., Nienow, P., Bartholomew, I., Mair, D., Cowton, T., Tedstone, A., & King, M. A. (2013). Winter motion mediates dynamic response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to warmer summers. Geophysical Research Letters, 40(15), 3940-3944. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50764 Tedstone, A. J., Nienow, P. W., Gourmelen, N., & Sole, A. J. (2014). Greenland ice sheet annual motion insensitive to spatial variations in subglacial hydraulic structure. Geophysical Research Letters, 41(24), 8910-8917. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014gl062386 Tedstone, A. J., Nienow, P. W., Sole, A. J., Mair, D. W. F., Cowton, T. R., Bartholomew, I. D., & King, M. A. (2013). Greenland ice sheet motion insensitive to exceptional meltwater forcing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(49), 19719-19724. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1315843110 Estey, L. H., & Meertens, C. M. (1999). TEQC: The Multi-Purpose Toolkit for GPS/GLONASS Data. GPS Solutions, 3(1), 42-49. https://doi.org/10.1007/pl00012778 Hatanaka, Y. (2008). A Compression Format and Tools for GNSS Observation Data. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.7356937 Chen, G. (1999). GPS kinematic positioning for the airborne laser altimetry at Long Valley, California. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://dspace.mit.edu/entities/publication/ad524e37-2327-42b3-9498-a43a4f639f1c King, R. (2025). GAMIT/GLOBK. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://geoweb.mit.edu/gg/ Doyle, S. H., Hubbard, A., Fitzpatrick, A. A. W., van As, D., Mikkelsen, A. B., Pettersson, R., & Hubbard, B. (2014). Persistent flow acceleration within the interior of the Greenland ice sheet. Geophysical Research Letters, 41(3), 899-905. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013gl058933 King, M. (2004). Rigorous GPS data-processing strategies for glaciological applications. Journal of Glaciology, 50(171), 601-607. https://doi.org/10.3189/172756504781829747 Thomas, R., Akins, T., Csatho, B., Fahnestock, M., Gogineni, P., Kim, C., & Sonntag, J. (2000). Mass Balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet at High Elevations. Science, 289(5478), 426-428. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.289.5478.426 |
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| Quality: | All epoch-level data acquired in 2009 are very noisy, resulting in higher errors for this year. The causes are not known but likely originate in the ionosphere. Site lev7 had a suspect GPS receiver installed throughout, resulting in noisy pseudo-range data. For comprehensive quality details, see the dataset User Guide. |
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| Lineage/Methodology: | Level-0 data The Level-0 data are provided as RINEX files. Level-1 data These data are post-processed kinematically. They maintain their original temporal resolution. A Parquet file for each site contains all the columns that are output by the 'GEOD' mode of TRACK. Level-2 data Coordinates are rotated into along-track and across-track displacements. The horizontal components are corrected for pole redrilling. Several filtering, operations are undertaken. Velocities are derived from these displacements by smoothing and differencing over hourly, daily, seasonal and annual timescales depending on the logging capabilities and data available at each site. Uncertainties are also provided. For comprehensive lineage, see the dataset User Guide. |
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Locality
| Temporal Coverage: | |
|---|---|
| Start Date | 2009-05-02 |
| End Date | 2013-05-11 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | 67 |
| Northernmost | 67 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | 48.37 |
| Easternmost | 46.47 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | Greenland |
| Detailed Location | K-Transect, south-western flank of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
Instrumentation
| Sensor(s): |
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| Data Collection: | Leica 500 and Leica 1200 dual-frequency Global Positioning Systems receivers were installed in conjunction with Leica AX1202 antennae mounted on top of the monument. These systems were generally powered by a 55-65 Ah lead-acid battery and a 50 W solar panel. The logging and power components were contained in PELI cases placed on the ice sheet surface and tethered to the monument. The receivers were powered continuously, provided that the battery voltage was sufficient. Each receiver recorded position observations every 10 seconds (L1200 sites) or 30 seconds (L500) sites, enabling resolution of horizontal and vertical ice motion. Sites were visited each spring-time and autumn-time to download data and undertake maintenance activities. More information can be found in the maintenance visit logs. |
Storage
| Distribution: | |
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| Distribution Media | Online Internet (HTTP) |
| Distribution Size | 10 GB |
| Distribution Format | N/A |
| Fees | N/A |
| Data Storage: | The dataset is organised as a series of processing level directories (level0-level2 and transect), with site subdirectories and files within. The files are a mixture of text data formats (e.g. RINEX) or tabular formats (e.g. Parquet), along with some plots (PDF, PNG). |