HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGERY FROM THE RUSSIAN KATE-200 SATELLITE CAMERA - MORPHOLOGY AND DYNAMICS OF ICE MASSES IN THE EUROPEAN HIGH ARCTIC

Imagery from Russian Cosmos series near-polar orbiting satellites has recently become more widely available. We have obtained KATE-200 photo graphic imagery of ice caps in the European high Arctic archipelagos o f Franz Josef Land and Svalbard, and from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Thi s visible-band imagery is of high spatial resolution (nominal 15 m) an d each image covers a large ground segment (approximately 59 000 km(2) ). KATE-200 products are first generation film positives, first genera tion film negatives, and prints. No calibration standards or grey scal es are provided. A number of ice-surface topographic features can be e xtracted from these high resolution photographic products. Examples in clude flow directions in the Greenland Ice Sheet and drainage-basin ic e divides on Svalbard ice caps. The large area covered by each KATE-20 0 image, almost twice that of a Landsat scene, and over 15 times that of SPOT, is an advantage when monitoring the occurrence of glacier sur ges. The 15 m resolution clearly distinguishes heavy crevassing which affects the ice surface during surging. The combination of large forma t (a nominal 243 km x 243 km, but in fact up to at least 333 km x 333 km in some launches) and high spatial resolution also makes KATE-200 i magery very suitable for monitoring changing snowline position at both intra- and inter-annual timescales. The occurrence and size-frequency distribution of icebergs can also be measured, and bergs up to 2 . 3 km in length have been observed in Russian Franz Josef Land.