The measurements of temperature properties will help complete the puzzle of how the ocean and ice are interacting, leading researchers to build better models of ice sheet changes and sea-level rise.
With a single image, all models of ice flow that do not include subglacial water can now be ruled out.
But the work does suggest that current models of ice sheet dynamics are missing a huge factor, said glaciologist Donald Blankenship of the University of Texas, Austin.
The model considers sensor configurations, background surface and atmospheric profile, and microphysical and optical models of ice and liquid cloud particles and radiative transfer in a plane-parallel, multilayered atmosphere.
The 3D models of ice being produced are almost unique and, as with the robot that withstood Sandy, justify the risk of sending in a pricey robot that might not return.
Despite the complexity of glacial behavior revealed by the study, the trove of data may lead to better models of ice sheet flow, says Richard Alley, a glaciologist at Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
