Ice Thickness and Surface Elevation, Southeastern Ross Embayment, West Antarctica

• Main Authors: Blankenship, Donald D., Finn, C. A., Morse, David L., Bell, R. E., Peters, M. E., Kempf, Scott D., Hodge, S. M., Behrendt, J. C., Brozena, J. M., Studinger, Michael S.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: IEDA: US Antarctic Program Data Center 2004
• Subjects: Antarctic Glaciology; Bathymetry/Topography; Glaciology; Antarctica; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Cryosphere; Ross Embayment; West Antarctica; US Antarctic Program Data Center (USAP-DC); Antarctic; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; The Corridor; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://get.iedadata.org/metadata/iso/609099

Abstract: Ice surface elevation and ice thickness data are available for a portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The investigators utilized a laser altimeter and ice-penetrating radar mounted to a Twin Otter aircraft to survey the ice sheet. Ice surface elevations and ice thickness data, derived from laser altimetry and radar sounding results, are available in ASCII format via ftp. These data are a result of the Corridor Aerogeophysics of the Southeastern Ross Transect Zone (CASERTZ) experiments of the 1990s. The CASERTZ geophysical surveys were aimed at understanding geological controls on ice streams of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, ultimately to help assess the potential for ice sheet collapse. Blankenship et al. (2001) used ice surface elevations and ice thicknesses (reported here) to calculate driving stresses across the ice sheet and thus to identify regions of rapid basal movement by ice streams.