MEaSUREs ITS_LIVE: Regional Glacier and Ice Sheet Surface Velocities 1985-2018

1985 to 2018 mean annual surface velocities for major glacier-covered regions, derived from Landsat 4, 5, 7, and 8 imagery. This data set is from NASA's MEaSUREs ITS_LIVE project. Annual coverage is nearly complete from 2013 onward following the Landsat 8 launch.

Use Cases

• Modeling glacier and ice sheet dynamics based on annual surface velocity time series.
• Analyzing long-term trends in ice flow linked to climate change based on data from 1985 to 2018.
• Assessing regional ice mass balance changes based on surface velocity measurements.
• Calibrating and validating ice flow models based on satellite-derived velocity observations.

Strengths

• Data spans 33 years from 1985 to 2018.
• Nearly complete annual coverage from 2013 onward due to Landsat 8.
• Derived from multiple satellite sources (Landsat 4, 5, 7, and 8).

Limitations

• Data availability is significantly limited prior to 2013 due to image scarcity and low quality.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from Landsat 4, 5, 7, and 8 imagery.

Time Range

1985 to 2018

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 20:23:58.114894; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Major glacier-covered regions (global).