BedMachine: A high-precision map of Antarctic ice sheet bed topography
- Visualizations by:
- Cindy Starr
- View full credits
This animation displays seven glacial regions around Antarctica, first showing the surface topography followed by the bed topography. The regions examined include the Thwaites, Byrd, David, Ninnis, Denman and Recovery glaciers as well as the West Ragnhild ice stream.
This video is also available on our YouTube channel.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Visualizers
- Cindy Starr (GST) [Lead]
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
Scientists
- Angelika Humbert (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research/University of Bremen)
- Antonia Ruppel (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany)
- Bo Sun (Polar Research Institute of China)
- Coen Hofstede (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)
- Daniel Steinhage (Alfred Wegener Institute)
- Donald D. Blankenship (Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin)
- Duncan A. Young (Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas)
- Emma C. Smith (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)
- Eric J. Rignot (NASA/JPL CalTech)
- Fausto Ferraccioli (British Antarctic Survey)
- Frank Pattyn (Université libre de Bruxelles)
- Graeme Eagles (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)
- Helene Seroussi (NASA/JPL CalTech)
- Hilmar Gudmundsson (Northumbria University)
- Ian Howat (Ohio State University)
- Jamin S. Greenbaum (University of Texas at Austin)
- Jasen Roberts (Australian Antarctic Division/Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre/Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania)
- Jeremie Mouginot (University of California, Irvine)
- Jingxue Gu (Polar Research Institute of China)
- John Paden (University of Kansas)
- Kenichi Matsuoka (Norwegian Polar Institute)
- Mathieu Morlighem (University of California, Irvine)
- Melchior Van Wessem (Utrecht University)
- Michiel R. van den Broeke (Utrecht University)
- Nanna B. Karlsson (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research/University of Bremen)
- Olaf Eisen (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research/University of Bremen)
- Peter Fretwell (British Antarctic Survey)
- Reinhard Drews (University of Tübingen)
- Rene Forsberg (Technical University of Denmark)
- Romain Millan (University of California, Irvine)
- Sebastian Rosier (Northumbria University)
- Tas D. Van Ommen (Australian Antarctic Division/Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre/Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania)
- Tobias Binder (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)
- Veit Helm (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)
- Vikram Goel (National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, India)
- Wilfried Jokat (Alfred Wegener Institute)
- Won Sang Lee (Korea Polar Research Institute, South Korea)
Project support
- Leann Johnson (GST)
- Wei Hao (GST)
Technical support
- Ian Jones (ADNET)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET)
Papers
This visualization is based on the following papers:- Morlighem M. et al., (2019), Deep glacial troughs and stabilizing ridges unveiled beneath the margins of the Antarctic ice sheet, Nature Geoscience, doi: 10.1038/s41561-019-0510-8 ( https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0510-8 )
Datasets used in this visualization
Terra and Aqua BMNG (A.K.A. Blue Marble: Next Generation) (Collected with the MODIS sensor)
Credit: The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).
Dataset can be found at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/
See more visualizations using this data setMEaSUREs BedMachine Antarctica
Part of the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) program, contains a bed topography/bathymetry map of Antarctica based on mass conservation, streamline diffusion, and other methods. The data set also includes ice thickness, surface elevation, an ice/ocean/land mask, ice thickness estimation errors, and a map showing where each method was utilized.
Dataset can be found at: https://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0756
See more visualizations using this data setNote: 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.