# Learning Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Polar Ice Layers With Physics-Informed Graph Neural Network

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.15299 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.15299/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 31 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 21 Jun 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Inductive Representation Learning on Large Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02216/) (2017)
- [Graph Neural Networks: A Review of Methods and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.08434/) (2018)
- [EvolveGCN: Evolving Graph Convolutional Networks for Dynamic Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.10191/) (2019)
- [Structured Sequence Modeling with Graph Convolutional Recurrent Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.07659/) (2016)
- [Deep Ice Layer Tracking and Thickness Estimation using Fully Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.00191/) (2020)
- [Recurrent Graph Convolutional Networks for Spatiotemporal Prediction of Snow Accumulation Using Airborne Radar](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00817/) (2023)
- [Prediction of Annual Snow Accumulation Using a Recurrent Graph Convolutional Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.13181/) (2023)
- [Prediction of Deep Ice Layer Thickness Using Adaptive Recurrent Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.13690/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Multi-branch Spatio-Temporal Graph Neural Network For Efficient Ice Layer Thickness Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.04055/) (2024)
- [GRIT: Graph Transformer For Internal Ice Layer Thickness Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.07388/) (2025)
- [K-STEMIT: Knowledge-Informed Spatio-Temporal Efficient Multi-Branch Graph Neural Network for Subsurface Stratigraphy Thickness Estimation from Radar Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.09922/) (2026)
- [GRIT-LP: Graph Transformer with Long-Range Skip Connection and Partitioned Spatial Graphs for Accurate Ice Layer Thickness Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.18716/) (2025)
- [PACT: Peak-Aware Cross-Attention Graph Transformers for Efficient Storm-Surge Emulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.09036/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Learning spatio-temporal patterns of polar ice layers is crucial for monitoring the change in ice sheet balance and evaluating ice dynamic processes. While a few researchers focus on learning ice layer patterns from echogram images captured by airborne snow radar sensors via different convolutional neural networks, the noise in the echogram images proves to be a major obstacle. Instead, we focus on geometric deep learning based on graph neural networks to learn the spatio-temporal patterns from thickness information of shallow ice layers and make predictions for deep layers. In this paper, we propose a physics-informed hybrid graph neural network that combines the GraphSAGE framework for graph feature learning with the long short-term memory (LSTM) structure for learning temporal changes, and introduce measurements of physical ice properties from Model Atmospheric Regional (MAR) weather model as physical node features. We found that our proposed network can consistently outperform the current non-inductive or non-physical model in predicting deep ice layer thickness.