NASA 2013_AK_UAF Project: Radar Sounder Measurements of Alaskan Glacier Ice Thickness

Radar echograms and derived measurements of glacier surface elevation, bed elevation, and ice thickness for select glaciers in Alaska and Northwestern Canada. The data was acquired by the University of Alaska Fairbanks High-Frequency Radar Sounder and is sourced from NASA IceBridge L1B products. It is hosted on AWS and requires an Earthdata Login account for access.

Use Cases

• Model glacier volume change and ice flow based on ice thickness and bed elevation data.
• Validate satellite altimetry measurements using the derived glacier surface elevation.
• Study subglacial topography and hydrology based on radar-derived bed elevation profiles.
• Calibrate other geophysical models with per-trace ice thickness measurements.

Strengths

• Data is derived from authoritative NASA IceBridge L1B products (ILAKS1B, IRUAFHF1B).
• Provides three key glaciological variables: surface elevation, bed elevation, and ice thickness.
• Measurements are geolocated, referencing the WGS 84 ellipsoid.

Limitations

• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

NASA IceBridge, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Collection Method

Acquired via airborne High-Frequency Radar Sounder and Lidar Scanner.

Time Range

2013 (inferred from project title)

Freshness

unknown

Geography

Select glaciers in Alaska and Northwestern Canada