Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




EARTH OBSERVATION
NASA Research Leads to First Complete Map of Antarctic Ice Flow
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 19, 2011


First complete map of the speed and direction of ice flow in Antarctica, derived from radar interferometric data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's ALOS PALSAR, the European Space Agency's Envisat ASAR and ERS-1/2, and the Canadian Space Agency's RADARSAT-2 spacecraft. The color-coded satellite data are overlaid on a mosaic of Antarctica created with data from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. Pixel spacing is 984 feet (300 meters). The thick black lines delineate major ice divides. Subglacial lakes in Antarctica's interior are also outlined in black. Thick black lines along the coast indicate ice sheet grounding lines. Full size map.

NASA-funded researchers have created the first complete map of the speed and direction of ice flow in Antarctica. The map, which shows glaciers flowing thousands of miles from the continent's deep interior to its coast, will be critical for tracking future sea-level increases from climate change.

The team created the map using integrated radar observations from a consortium of international satellites.

"This is like seeing a map of all the oceans' currents for the first time. It's a game changer for glaciology," said Eric Rignot of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the University of California (UC), Irvine. Rignot is lead author of a paper about the ice flow published online Thursday in Science Express.

"We are seeing amazing flows from the heart of the continent that had never been described before."

Rignot and UC Irvine scientists Jeremie Mouginot and Bernd Scheuchl used billions of data points captured by European, Japanese and Canadian satellites to weed out cloud cover, solar glare and land features masking the glaciers.

With the aid of NASA technology, the team painstakingly pieced together the shape and velocity of glacial formations, including the previously uncharted East Antarctica, which comprises 77 percent of the continent.

Like viewers of a completed jigsaw puzzle, the scientists were surprised when they stood back and took in the full picture. They discovered a new ridge splitting the 5.4 million-square-mile (14 million-square-kilometer) landmass from east to west.

The team also found unnamed formations moving up to 800 feet (244 meters) annually across immense plains sloping toward the Antarctic Ocean and in a different manner than past models of ice migration.

"The map points out something fundamentally new: that ice moves by slipping along the ground it rests on," said Thomas Wagner, NASA's cryospheric program scientist in Washington. "That's critical knowledge for predicting future sea level rise. It means that if we lose ice at the coasts from the warming ocean, we open the tap to massive amounts of ice in the interior."

The work was conducted in conjunction with the International Polar Year (IPY) (2007-2008). Collaborators worked under the IPY Space Task Group, which included NASA; the European Space Agency (ESA); Canadian Space Agency (CSA); Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency; the Alaska Satellite Facility in Fairbanks; and MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The map builds on partial charts of Antarctic ice flow created by NASA, CSA and ESA using different techniques.

"To our knowledge, this is the first time that a tightly knit collaboration of civilian space agencies has worked together to create such a huge dataset of this type," said Yves Crevier of CSA. "It is a dataset of lasting scientific value in assessing the extent and rate of change in polar regions."

See a video animation of the new Antarctic map.

.


Related Links
-
Earth Observation News - Suppiliers, Technology and Application






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








EARTH OBSERVATION
SSTL successfully launches two further Earth observation satellites
Guildford UK (SPX) Aug 18, 2011
SSTL's NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X satellites were successfully launched Wednesday at 07:12:20 UTC onboard a Dnepr rocket from Yasny in southern Russia. The highly advanced Earth observation satellites will significantly boost African capabilities for natural resource management, as well as aid disaster relief through the Disaster Monitoring Constellation. Following confirmation of separ ... read more


EARTH OBSERVATION
GRAIL Moon Twins are Joined to Their Booster

Moon younger than previously thought

GRAIL Launch Less Than One Month Away

The Lunar Farside And The Ancient Big Splat

EARTH OBSERVATION
France, Russia talk of Mars mission

Possibility of Mars microbial life eyed

Arrival in the Arctic

Opportunity Reaches Endeavour Crater

EARTH OBSERVATION
NASA Selects XCOR to Participate in Suborbital Flight Contract

NASA Selects Seven Firms To Provide Near-Space Flight Services

NASA moves forward in manned spaceflight

Russia space chief regrets focus on manned missions

EARTH OBSERVATION
China satellite aborts mission after 'malfunction'

Pausing for Tiangong

Chinese orbiter fails to enter designated orbit due to rocket malfunction

No Toilet for Tiangong

EARTH OBSERVATION
First 3D video transmission live from space

Robotic Refueling Module, Soon To Be Relocated to Permanent Space Station Position

SpaceX plans November test flight to space station

Crew Stows Spacesuits, Completes Robotics Checkout

EARTH OBSERVATION
Russia loses contact with new satellite

China successfully launches maritime satellite

NASA selects Virgin Galactic for Suborbital Flights

Arabsat-5C is welcomed in French Guiana for Arianespace's next Ariane 5 launch

EARTH OBSERVATION
Stellar eclipse gives glimpse of exoplanet

Alien World is Blacker than Coal

Strange planet is blacker than coal

Exoplanet Aurora Makes For An Out-of-this-World Sight

EARTH OBSERVATION
HP surrenders as post-PC era beckons

Forecasting pipe fractures

Tests find thyroid radiation in Japanese children

First quantitative measure of radiation leaked from Fukushima reactor




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement