Surface elevation contours of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets

• Main Authors: Zwally, H. J., Bindschadler, R. A., Brenner, A. C., Martin, T. V., Thomas, R. H.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1983
• Subjects: 46; Antarctic; Greenland; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19830043068

Preliminary results from Seasat radar altimetry over Antarctica north of 72 deg S and Greenland south of 72 deg N are presented. Surface elevations of the ice sheets, obtained from computer retracking of the radar altimeter waveforms, are contoured at 50-m intervals for Greenland and at 100-m intervals for Antarctica. Elevation differences at orbital crossover points are analyzed to obtain a precision of 1.9 m; this figure is partly determined by radial errors of approximately 1.0 m in orbital determination and partly by noise due to ice surface irregularities. Adjustment of the radial components of the orbits to minimize the differences in elevations at crossovers over a small, relatively flat region reduces the rms difference to 0.25 m, which is indicative of the optimum precision obtainable over the ice sheets. However, the precision degrades as the slope of the surface or amplitude of the undulations increases, yielding an overall precision of + or - 1.6 m.