ICESat First Light Release: Antarctica in Three Dimensions

  • Released Thursday, May 15, 2003
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ICESat's orbit was designed to maximize coverage over the great polar ice sheets, where ground tracks overlap to create an intricate grid of data points. The accumulation of these data points in the Southern Hemisphere results in a new three-dimensional elevation model of Antarctica. ICESat repeats its orbital pattern every eight days, allowing the GLAS instrument to measure changes over time in the same location. In order to measure ice sheet mass balance, the satellite's advanced technology is providing data on the critically important third dimension, elevation.

Animation showing ICESat tracks criss-crossing over Antarctica

ICESat tracks criss-crossing over Antarctica

ICESat tracks criss-crossing over Antarctica

Video slate image reads "ICESat First Light: Antarctica in Three Dimensions".

Video slate image reads "ICESat First Light: Antarctica in Three Dimensions".

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio, Canadian Space Agency, RADARSAT International Inc.
The Blue Marble Next Generation data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC) and NASA's Earth Observatory.

This page was originally published on Thursday, May 15, 2003.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:57 PM EDT.

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