Annual Antarctic Ice Velocity Maps from Multi-Source Satellite Data

Annual maps of Antarctic ice velocity from 2007 to 2017, produced by the NASA MEaSUREs program. The dataset is assembled by the NSIDC using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from multiple international satellite missions and optical imagery from Landsat-8. It provides a multi-year record for tracking ice sheet dynamics.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in ice velocity for specific glacier outlets using the annual map time series.
• Validate ice flow models by comparing simulated velocities against the satellite-derived velocity maps.
• Study the impact of seasonal or climatic events on ice shelf stability by correlating velocity changes with other geophysical data.
• Calibrate velocity extraction algorithms from new satellite sensors using this multi-mission dataset as a benchmark.

Strengths

• Data synthesized from 7 major satellite missions, including ALOS PALSAR, ENVISAT, Sentinel-1, RADARSAT, TerraSAR-X, and Landsat-8.
• Provides annual continental-scale coverage of Antarctica for over a decade.
• Produced under the NASA MEaSUREs program, ensuring methodological consistency for research use.

Limitations

• Specific spatial resolution, accuracy metrics, and data format details are not provided in the input.
• The last documented update was in mid-2020, so the most recent years may not be included.
• Velocity derivation methods and potential error sources for each sensor type are not detailed here.

Provenance

Source

NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) program, distributed by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

Collection Method

Assembled from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical satellite imagery using interferometric and feature-tracking techniques.

Time Range

2007 to 2017 (inferred from typical MEaSUREs AIV coverage).

Freshness

Annual updates implied, but last known update was 2020-06-30.

Geography

Antarctic ice sheet and surrounding ice shelves.