Larsen B Ice Shelf Lake Depths and Areas from 2000 Landsat Imagery

February 2000 snapshot of supraglacial lake depths, surface areas, and geographic coordinates on the collapsed Larsen B Ice Shelf. Data was derived from a multi-spectral Landsat 7 image by researchers affiliated with SCIOPS. This single-date dataset captures conditions just years before the ice shelf's catastrophic disintegration in 2002.

Use Cases

• Analyze the relationship between lake depth and surface area for individual supraglacial water bodies.
• Map the spatial distribution of lakes using the provided x and y location coordinates across the ice shelf.
• Establish a baseline of pre-collapse lake characteristics for comparative studies with other ice shelves.
• Validate or calibrate spectral reflectance models for estimating water depth from Landsat 7 bands.

Strengths

• Data provides a precise temporal snapshot from a single date (February 2000).
• Derived from a standard, well-documented satellite source (Landsat 7).
• Includes multiple measured variables: lake depth, area, and location.

Limitations

• Contains only a single observation date, preventing time-series analysis.
• Sample size (number of lakes) is unknown, limiting statistical assessment.
• Data is over two decades old and precedes the ice shelf's breakup.

Provenance

Source

NASA Earthdata via SCIOPS.

Collection Method

Derived from processing a multi-spectral Landsat 7 image using methods from a peer-reviewed publication (Banwell et al., in press, Annals of Glaciology).

Time Range

2000-02 (single snapshot).

Freshness

2000-02-22

Geography

Larsen B Ice Shelf, Antarctica.