MEaSUREs: Ice Velocity Map

This data set, as part of the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Program, provides the first comprehensive, high-resolution, digital mosaics of ice motion in Antarctica assembled from multiple satellite interferometric synthetic-aperture radar systems. Data was largely acquired during the International Polar Year 2007 to 2009, as well as between 2013 and 2016. Additional data acquired between 1996 and 2016 was used as needed to maximize coverage.

Ice Velocity Map of Antarctica from Satellite Radar Interferometry (Version 2)

Rignot, E., J. Mouginot, and B. Scheuchl (2011), Ice Flow of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, Science, doi 10.1126/science.1208336.

Mouginot, J., B. Scheuchl, and E. Rignot. 2012. Mapping of Ice Motion in Antarctica Using Synthetic-Aperture Radar Data, Remote Sensing. 4. 2753-2767. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs4092753

To download this data set: http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0484.html

 Antarctic ice velocity derived from RADARSAT-1, ERS-1 and 2, ALOS PALSAR, ENVISAT ASAR, RADARSAT-2, TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, Copernicus Sentinel-1, and Landsat-8, color-coded on a logarithmic scale.

Data were acquired from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)’s and MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA)’s RADARSAT-2, spring 2007-2008-2009 data from European Space Agency (ESA)’s Envisat ASAR, and fall 2007-2008 data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) PALSAR provided by the Alaska Satellite Facility, complemented by patches of CSA’s RADARSAT-1 data from fall 2000 and ESA’s Earth Remote Sensing Satellites ERS-1/2 data from spring 1996. Each radar instrument contributes its unique coverage and performance level. The final mosaic assembles 900 satellite tracks and more than 3,000 orbits of radar data.