Antarctic Ice Shelf Thickness Change and Melt Rates from NASA Campaigns

Antarctic ice shelf data from NASA/CECS Antarctic Ice Mapping and NASA Operation IceBridge campaigns. The HDF5 files contain variables for ice thickness change rates, bottom melt rates, surface elevation, slopes, and geophysical corrections like ocean tides and atmospheric effects. The data was processed by Tyler Sutterley and is provided under a Creative Commons 4.0 license.

Use Cases

• Modeling ice shelf mass balance based on derived bottom melt rate (bmr) and thickness change rate (DH_Dt) variables.
• Analyzing surface elevation changes and errors using the uncorrected surface elevation (h) and its uncertainty (h_sigma).
• Correcting satellite altimetry data using geophysical variables like ocean tide (tide_ocean), load tide (tide_load), and dynamic atmospheric correction (dac).
• Studying spatial variability of ice shelf processes using longitude, latitude, and surface slope (dh_dx, dh_dy) data.

Strengths

• Includes multiple derived geophysical variables such as bottom melt rate, thickness change rate, and various tide corrections.
• Data incorporates uncertainty estimates for key variables like ice thickness change rate (DH_Dt_sigma) and bottom melt rate (bmr_sigma).
• Processed in a Lagrangian reference frame with geophysical corrections applied.

Limitations

• Row count, file size, and specific temporal coverage are unknown, limiting suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Column-level documentation beyond the listed variable names is absent; full field semantics may require further inspection.

Provenance

Source

NASA/CECS Antarctic Ice Mapping and NASA Operation IceBridge campaigns.

Collection Method

Remote sensing data from airborne campaigns, processed in a Lagrangian reference frame.

Geography

Antarctic ice shelves.