Heard Island Elevation Model from 2002 RADARSAT Imagery

A 10-metre cell size Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Heard Island was created by a contractor for the Australian Antarctic Data Centre. The model was generated from RADARSAT images acquired on February 17 and March 13, 2002, and merged with a prior 1997 stereoscopic DEM. The dataset includes the final DEM, a rectified RADARSAT image, generated contours, and technical reports.

Use Cases

• Analyze topographic changes by comparing this 2002 DEM with the 1997 stereoscopic DEM referenced in the metadata.
• Study glacier and ice cap dynamics using the 20-metre contours generated for areas of high coherency.
• Validate InSAR processing techniques against the stereoscopic DEM using the documented integration zone.
• Map coastal changes by overlaying the extracted island polygon (coastline) with other temporal imagery.

Strengths

• 10-metre spatial resolution provides detailed terrain representation.
• Data fusion integrates InSAR DEM from 2002 with a stereoscopic DEM from 1997.

Limitations

• Dataset is over 20 years old, limiting analysis of recent changes.
• A technical report documents known errors and artefacts in the DEM.
• Primary data creator did not respond to specific requests for high-coherency area contours prior to release.

Provenance

Source

Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC).

Collection Method

Derived via interferometric processing (InSAR) of RADARSAT images, co-registered and merged with a prior stereoscopic DEM.

Time Range

Primary imagery from February-March 2002; merged with data from 1997.

Freshness

null

Geography

Heard Island.