A high-resolution synthetic bed elevation grid of the Antarctic continent

• Published in: Earth System Science Data
• Main Authors: Graham, FS, Roberts, JL, Galton-Fenzi, BK, Young, D, Blankenship, D, Siegert, MJ
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus GmbH 2017
• Subjects: Engineering; Interdisciplinary Engineering; Computational Fluid Dynamics; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-267-2017; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/116815

Digital elevation models of Antarctic bed topography are smoothed and interpolated onto low-resolution ( > 1 km) grids as current observed topography data are generally sparsely and unevenly sampled. This issue has potential implications for numerical simulations of ice-sheet dynamics, especially in regions prone to instability where detailed knowledge of the topography, including fine-scale roughness, is required. Here, we present a high-resolution (100 m) synthetic bed elevation terrain for Antarctica, encompassing the continent, continental shelf, and seas south of 60 S. Although not identically matching observations, the synthetic bed surface denoted as HRES preserves topographic roughness characteristics of airborne and ground-based ice-penetrating radar data measured by the ICECAP (Investigating the Cryospheric Evolution of the Central Antarctic Plate) consortium or used to create the Bedmap1 compilation. Broad-scale ( > 5 km resolution) features of the Antarctic landscape are incorporated using a low-pass filter of the Bedmap2 bed elevation data. HRES has applicability in high-resolution ice-sheet modelling studies, including investigations of the interaction between topography, ice-sheet dynamics, and hydrology, where processes are highly sensitive to bed elevations and fine-scale roughness. The data are available for download from the Australian Antarctic Data Centre ( doi:10.4225/15/57464ADE22F50 ).