Antarctic Bedrock

  • Released Tuesday, June 4, 2013
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Above: Move bar to compare the bedrock topography (left) to the ice sheet surface (right).Download HTML to embed this in your web page.

The topography of the bedrock under the Antarctic Ice Sheet is critical to understanding the dynamic motion of the ice sheet, its thickness and its influence on the surrounding ocean and global climate. In 2001, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) released a map of the bed under the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the seabed extending out on to the continental shelf derived from data collected by an international consortium of scientists over the prior fifty years. The resulting dataset was called BEDMAP (or BEDMAP1).

In 2013, BAS released an update of the topographic dataset called BEDMAP2 that incorporates twenty-five million measurements taken over the past two decades from the ground, air and space. This visualization compares the new BEDMAP2 dataset to the original BEDMAP1 dataset showing the improvements in resolution and coverage.

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Above: Move bar to compare the Bedmap1 topography (left) to the Bedmap2 topography (right). Download HTML to embed this in your web page.

Since 2009, NASA's mission Operation IceBridge (OIB) has flown aircraft over the Antarctic Ice Sheet carrying laser and ice-penetrating radar instruments to collect data about the surface height, bedrock topography and ice thickness. This visualization highlights the contribution that OIB has made to this important dataset.

The topography in this visualization is exaggerated to emphasize the topographic relief. The amount of exaggeration varies based on the viewpoint, from twenty times in distant views down to nine times when near the Pine Island Bay.

The complete narrated animation with labels and flight paths.

 

Complete transcript available.


This video is also available on our YouTube channel.

The Earth layer of the animation with transparency but without text labels or the star background.

The star background.

The labels with transparency.

A print resolution still image of Antarctica with flow lines showing the motion of the ice sheet. The flow lines are colored by velocity with reds indicating faster flows and blues indicating slower.

A print resolution still image of Antarctica with flow lines showing the motion of the ice sheet. The flow lines are colored by velocity with reds indicating faster flows and blues indicating slower.

A print resolution still image of the region around Pine Island, Antarctica showing the difference between the original Bedmap1 dataset and the improved Bedmap2 dataset. Shown here with labels, a dividing wall separates the two datasets.

A print resolution still image of the region around Pine Island, Antarctica showing the difference between the original Bedmap1 dataset and the improved Bedmap2 dataset. Shown here with labels, a dividing wall separates the two datasets.

A print resolution still image of the region around Pine Island, Antarctica showing the difference between the original Bedmap1 dataset on the lower left and the improved Bedmap2 dataset on the upper right. Shown here without labels, a dividing wall separates the two datasets.

A print resolution still image of the region around Pine Island, Antarctica showing the difference between the original Bedmap1 dataset on the lower left and the improved Bedmap2 dataset on the upper right. Shown here without labels, a dividing wall separates the two datasets.

A print resolution still image showing the flight paths over the Pine Island region from Operation IceBridge flights in 2009, 2010 and 2011. A legend indicates the color used for each year.

A print resolution still image showing the flight paths over the Pine Island region from Operation IceBridge flights in 2009, 2010 and 2011. A legend indicates the color used for each year.

A print resolution still image showing the flight paths over the Pine Island region from Operation IceBridge flights in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Green indicates 2009 flights, yellow for 2010 and orange for 2011.

A print resolution still image showing the flight paths over the Pine Island region from Operation IceBridge flights in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Green indicates 2009 flights, yellow for 2010 and orange for 2011.

A print resolution still image showing the flight lines flown by Operation IceBridge over the surface of Antarctica. The red pole in the center represents the South Pole. The flight lines converge in Punta Arenas, Chile.

A print resolution still image showing the flight lines flown by Operation IceBridge over the surface of Antarctica. The red pole in the center represents the South Pole. The flight lines converge in Punta Arenas, Chile.

First of three co-registered images for web comparison: Bedmap1 Topography

First of three co-registered images for web comparison: Bedmap1 Topography

Second of three co-registered images for web comparison: Bedmap2 Topography

Second of three co-registered images for web comparison: Bedmap2 Topography

Third of three co-registered images for web comparison: Bedmap2 Surface Elevation

Third of three co-registered images for web comparison: Bedmap2 Surface Elevation

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Tuesday, June 4, 2013.
This page was last updated on Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 12:04 AM EST.

Missions

This visualization is related to the following missions:

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series:

Papers used in this visualization

Citation: Fretwell, P., Pritchard, H. D., Vaughan, D. G., Bamber, J. L., Barrand, N. E., Bell, R., Bianchi, C., Bingham, R. G., Blankenship, D. D., Casassa, G., Catania, G., Callens, D., Conway, H., Cook, A. J., Corr, H. F. J., Damaske, D., Damm, V., Ferraccioli, F., Forsberg, R., Fujita, S., Gim, Y., Gogineni, P., Griggs, J. A., Hindmarsh, R. C. A., Holmlund, P., Holt, J. W., Jacobel, R. W., Jenkins, A., Jokat, W., Jordan, T., King, E. C., Kohler, J., Krabill, W., Riger-Kusk, M., Langley, K. A., Leitchenkov, G., Leuschen, C., Luyendyk, B. P., Matsuoka, K., Mouginot, J., Nitsche, F. O., Nogi, Y., Nost, O. A., Popov, S. V., Rignot, E., Rippin, D. M., Rivera, A., Roberts, J., Ross, N., Siegert, M. J., Smith, A. M., Steinhage, D., Studinger, M., Sun, B., Tinto, B. K., Welch, B. C., Wilson, D., Young, D. A., Xiangbin, C., and Zirizzotti, A.: Bedmap2: improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 7, 375-393, doi:10.5194/tc-7-375-2013, 2013.

Datasets used in this visualization

Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.