Atlas of Antarctica: Topographic Maps from Geostatistical Analysis of Satellite Radar Altimeter Data

344 Pages·2004·28.66 MB·English

by  Professor Dr. Ute Christina Herzfeld (auth.)

Atlas of Antarctica
Ute Christina Herzfeld
Atlas of Antarctica
Topographic Maps from
Geostatistical Analysis of
Satellite Radar Altimeter Data
With 169 Figures
123
Professor Dr. Ute Christina Herzfeld
Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences
National Snow and Ice Data Center
University of Colorado Boulder
ca
Boulder, 80309-0449
USA
Geomathematics
University ofTrier
54286 Trier
Germany
email: [email protected]
Additional material to this book can be downloaded from http://extras.springer.com .
ISBN 978- 3- 642- 6241 8- 6 ISBN 978- 3- 642- 18515- 1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978- 3- 642- 18515- 1
Images an the frontcaver:Sea ice and ice shelf with German Research Vessel Polarstern in Atka Bay, Weddell Sea;
Iceberg offshore of New Schwabenland; Images an the back cover: Penguin Colony; Ice edge and sea ice in the
polynia in Halley Bay, Antarctica; Author at Jakobshavn Isbrae, West Greenland.
Library of Congress Control Number: 20041 07463
This work is subject to copyright.AII rights are reserved, whether the whole or part ofthe material is concerned,
specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitations, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is
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© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 2004
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply,
even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and
regulations and therefore free for general use.
Cover design: Erich Kirchner, Heidelberg
Production: Luisa Tonarelli
Typesetting and layout: Ute C. Herzfeld
Printedonacidfreepaper 30/3141/LT -543210
The Antarctic Atlas
is dedicated to
Helmut, Almut and Matthias Urs
Preface
Although it is generally understood that the askedofmetogetdownsouthtotheAntarctic.As
Antarctic Ice Sheet plays a critical role in the it turned out, I got to work on least-squares pre-
changingglobalsystem,thereistodatestillalack diction and collocation, a method used in geodesy
of generally available information on the subject. for interpolation, which led me into a new field of
Climaticchangeandtheroleofthepolarareasare science—geostatistics—whichwouldbecomethe
often discussed in the media. Much of our knowl- centerpiece of my mathematical research; but the
edge depends on models, and basic things such as expedition did not lead me to Antarctica, ending
maps are missing. The generally used geophysi- in South America after crossing the Atlantic. In
cal atlas of Antarctica is still the one published 1987/88 I “finally” set foot on the icy continent,
by Drewry twenty years ago, with literally huge during a 31 month expedition to Antarctica, also
2
“whiteareas”onthemaps(Drewry,D.J.(editor), withthePOLARSTERNandtheAlfred-Wegener-
1983,AntarcticGlaciological andGeophysicalFo- Institute for Polar Research (Bremerhaven, Ger-
lio, Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute). many),totheWeddellSeasectorofAntarctica.In
While there are maps of specific areas of Antarc- those days, expeditions were planned and staffed
tica available (usually where field research is un- in a way that helping hands were always needed,
dertaken), there is not one comprehensive work. scientists helped to establish stations, transport
loads and clean up fuel barrels; marine biologists
Antarcticaisaremotecontinent.—Despiteabout
needed help in counting species in huge piles of
200yearsofAntarcticexploration,manyplacesin
biomassdumpedonthedeck;geophysicistsneeded
the Antarctic have not been visited by mankind,
help for around-the-clock watch at instruments;
because Antarctica is hard to reach from inhab-
trace-chemical stations needed to be established
itedplaces,aforebodingplacetotravelbecauseof
far away from the main stations, and glaciologic
glaciated terrain and harsh climate, and the fact
dataneededtobeprocessed.Thisprovidedagreat
thatthecontinentissurroundedbyafrozenocean
way to learn about many aspects of the Antarc-
for a large part of the year. Information on the
tic environment as well as a fun way to interact
remote continent is available today from satellite
and collaborate. Quickly I noticed that who vol-
data.
unteered first got to set up remote sampling loca-
tions,approachedbyhelicopterorsnowcattracks,
Antarcticaisafrozencontinent.—Itcontainsover
while who volunteered last may end up pumping
90% of the Earth’s ice mass, and most of its area
Arctic diesel ... Whatever the tasks, the Antarctic
is covered by ice.
holds a grip on almost anyone who has ever vis-
Antarcticaisafascinatingcontinent.—Thesame ited it. Expeditions to places without the ICE are
geographic properties that make Antarctica diffi- just not the same, as I came to discover in later
culttovisitdrawourimaginationtothiswildand seagoing expeditions.
different place. In 1984, I interrupted my disser-
Our society’s knowledge on Antarctica is still far
tation project in mathematics for the chance to
lessthanknowledgeaboutanyothercontinent,de-
participate in an Antarctic expedition, with the
spite decades of exploration of Earth from space
German Research Vessel POLARSTERN, willing
and publications in scientific journals. A school
to work on more or less anything that would be
VIII
teacher who does not know what distinguishes Atlas maps provide elevation which is geophys-
Antarctica from the Arctic is not an exception. ically useful and accurate information. As such
Books on Antarctica that are available to a gen- the Atlas maps are the highest-resolution eleva-
eral readership are commonly coffee-table picture tion maps available today, derived from satellite
books, compiled by photographers on voyages to radar altimeter data by application of a geostatis-
the Antarctic, often with a focus on wildlife. In tical method, which was specifically designed by
contrast, the Atlas is focused on snow and ice the author for the problem of ice-sheet mapping.
research, relationship of ice and climate, geog- PartII(chapter(D))formsthecenterpieceofthe
raphy, cartography and geodesy, geomathematics Atlas.
and satellite geophysics — on revealing the sev-
InpartI“MotivationandMethods”,introductory
enth continent from space. As such, the Atlas of
chapters concern the following topics: (A) The
Antarctica will fill an information gap.
Antarctic Ice Sheet and its role in the Global Sys-
Today’s educators want to teach children excit- tem, (B) Satellite Remote Sensing, and (C) Data
ing facts about remote places, and tourism in- analysis methods applied in the Antarctic Atlas
creases in an adventure and exploration compo- production and map construction. These sections
nent. Together with this there is a growing inter- mayserveasintroductions totherealmoficeand
est in Antarctica, and, often related to the cost climate, Antarctic geography, to satellite observa-
of travel to remote places, the knowledge-desiring tionsofthecryosphere,principlesofsatelliteradar
public has a high level of education. An increas- altimeter observations and data processing, and
ingpublicinterestinGlobalChangeandClimate- geostatistical estimation or interpolation applied
relatedquestionsalsocreatesaneedforbooksthat in cartography.
convey facts at a level that lies between that of
Applications presented in part III include mon-
picture books and science treatises.
itoring changes in Antarctic glaciers, ice streams
The Atlas of Antarctica is written with state-of- andiceshelves(chapter(E))anddetailedregional
the-artscientificaccuracy,sothatitishopedthat studies of outlet glaciers of the inland ice that
it may be useful for students and researchers of are particularly exciting (chapter (F)). Combina-
glaciology, geophysics, remote sensing, cartogra- tion and integration of digital elevation models
phy and Antarctic research, and at the same time fromradaraltimeterdataandSyntheticAperture
introduce to the complex of questions and facts Radar (SAR) data, which show surface structures
outlined above in a way that is informative and and flow features of glaciers and ice streams, is
funforthegeneralreaderinterestedinAntarctica. given as an example of employing data from two
sources in glaciologic research (chapter (G)). The
Information about the frozen continent, Antarc-
Atlas contains a total of 145 maps, 25 figures, in-
tica,isnotonlyaccessiblebyexpeditions,without
dexmapsanddiagrams,5tables,andfurthermore
the availability of satellite data, there would still
references on related subjects in glaciology, geo-
be large “white areas” on the map.
mathematics, remote sensing and geodesy (chap-
ter (H)), a glaciologic glossary, an index of the
The “Atlas of Antarctica” utilizes satellite data
Antarcticplacenamesshown,andalistofAntarc-
— more precisely, radar altimeter data from
tic expeditions (chapter (I)).
SEASAT, GEOSAT, ERS-1 and ERS-2. Other
than the better known satellite images, altimeter
The Atlas is for educators, glaciologists, re-
measurements provide information on elevation
searchers, students, tourists, anyone interested
and, as such, may be the basis of topographic
in Antarctica. It is my hope that the reader may
maps. The Atlas of Antarctica covers the entire
share some of my enthusiasm for Antarctica and
Antarctic continent in a collection of accurate to-
enjoy “discovering” some of its many fascinating
pographic maps, each with 3 km by 3 km grid
geographic and glaciologic features.
resolution, surface elevation in grey shades and
contours,andplacenamesofglaciers,icestreams,
Boulder, Colorado, Christmas 2003
and ice shelves, as well as of other major geo-
graphic features. Other than satellite images, the Ute Christina Herzfeld
Acknowledgements
Many people have helped throughout the course Matassa has been instrumental in helping estab-
of the Antarctic Atlas project. Shortcomings are, lishthe“mapteam”atGeomathe-UniTrier,while
of course, the author’s, and comments are appre- Ralf Stosius has dedicated a lot of energy to the
ciated. The Atlas is not intended to be a com- AtlasBookprojectinrecentyearshelpingmetrain
prehensive treatment of Antarctica and Antarctic younger map-team members, keeping lists of files
science — there are too many disciplines and too and maps and, at times, corresponding with the
many publications, but to fill a gap in knowledge. publisher. Matthias Mimler assisted in program-
ming the TRANSVIEW software.
Theoriginalideatoapplygeostatisticstosatellite
radar altimetry was suggested to me at a glaciol- Much of my time as a Visiting Fellow at the Co-
ogy meeting in Seattle in 1988 by colleagues at operative Institute for Research in Environmen-
NASA. Over the years, the Atlas project took on tal Sciences (CIRES) and the National Snow and
its own dynamics and was continued with data Ice Data Center (NSIDC)/World Data Center A
from ERS-1 and various groups of students at the forGlaciologyhasbeendevotedtotheAtlasBook
UniversitiesofCaliforniaSanDiego(UCSD),Col- project.IwishtothankCIRESfortheFellowship,
orado(CU)Boulder,andTrier,Germany.Funding and CIRES and especially NSIDC for their hospi-
was provided by NASA Office of Polar Programs tality.IamindebtedtoDr.KonradSteffen(Acting
grants NAGW-3790 and NAG5-6114. Dr. Robert Director, CIRES) and Dr. Roger Barry (Director,
Thomas,atthetimeprogrammanageratNASA’s NSIDC) for their support and understanding.
Office of Polar Programs, asked whether it would
Thanks are also due to Dr. Robert L. Parker
be possible to make maps of all of Antarctica.
(Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics,
Data were provided by Dr. H. Jay Zwally and co-
UCSD) for the contouring and coloring programs
workersDr.JohnDiMarzioandDr.AnitaBrenner
CONTOUR and COLOR used in the Atlas maps
atNASAGoddardSpaceFlightCenter.Dr.Craig
and the plot program PLOTXY, to Dr. Bruce
Lingle and Li-her Lee (University of Alaska Fair-
Fast (Department of Applied Mathematics, CU
banks) collaborated on Lambert Glacier studies.
Boulder) for help with integration of postscript
All this help and support is gratefully acknowl-
and LaTeX, to Allyn McAuley and Melanie Percy
edged.
for help with typesetting with support provided
Many thanks are due to my undergraduate and by K. Steffen, to Bruce Raup, Peter Gibbons,
graduate students who helped with various parts Matthew Applegate, Daryl Kohlerschmidt and
of the Antarctic Mapping project, including cod- Jennifer Gerull for help with figure production,
ing, data processing, map production and label- and last not least to Scott Williams (all CIRES /
ingofgeographicfeatures:toMichaelMatassaand NSIDC, CU Boulder) for help with LaTeX script-
Chris Higginson at CU Boulder; to Michael Lam- ing.
bertandCecilyFreemanatUCSD;tomembersof
My thanks go to the publishing editor Dr. Chris-
the “map team” at the Universit¨at Trier, Michael
tian Witschel and collaborators in his team at
Matassa, Ralf Stosius, Marcus Schneider, Marion
Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg.
Stellmes and Birgit Kausch. Of those, Michael
X
SpecialthanksareduetoDr.HelmutMayer,with- started writing, had it not been for Matthias Urs,
out whose help the Atlas would have been impos- my little son, who stepped into the world and re-
sible,forhisextensiveknowledgeoftheliterature, quiredmetostayhomemorethanusual.So,when
forhelpingmewiththerealworkthebookcreated, hefellasleepinhiscribinmyhomeoffice,Istarted
andformanytimesputtingothertasksbehindthe writing.
Atlas.IalsowishtothankmydaughterAlmutfor
all the understanding of a five-year old. After all
— should I admit that I may have never actually Ute Christina Herzfeld
Contents
(I) Motivation and Methods
(A) The Antarctic Ice Sheet and its Role in the Global System ..................... 3
(A.1) Main Geographic and Glaciologic Provinces of Antarctica ........................ 3
(A.2) Climatic Change, Sea-Level Rise, and Changes in the Cryosphere ................. 5
(A.3) Modeling Versus Measuring .................................................. 7
(B) Satellite Remote Sensing ....................................................... 9
(B.1) An Overview of Ice Sheet Observations by Satellite.............................. 9
(B.2) Satellite Radar Altimetry .................................................... 14
(B.2.1) Satellite Missions with Radar Altimeter Observations ..................... 14
(B.2.1.1) SEASAT.................................................... 14
(B.2.1.2) GEOSAT ................................................... 16
(B.2.1.3) ERS-1 and ERS-2............................................ 17
(B.2.1.4) Other Missions with Altimeters, and Related Missions ............ 17
(B.2.2) Mission Types: Exact Repeat Missions and Geodetic Missions.............. 18
(B.2.3) Radar Measurement Principles......................................... 19
(B.3) Analysis of Satellite Radar Altimeter Data over Ice Sheets and Glaciers ............ 25
(B.3.1) Problems and Methods of Mapping Ice Surface Elevation.................. 25
(B.3.2) Derivation of Ice Surface Roughness and Morphology ..................... 26
(C) Data Analysis Methods Applied in the Antarctic Atlas ......................... 29
(C.0) Introduction................................................................ 29
(C.1) Corrections of Radar Altimeter Data .......................................... 30
(C.1.1) Corrections Applied to Satellite Radar Altimeter Data for Ice Surface
Mapping .......................................................... 30
(C.1.2) The Bad-Track Problem............................................... 33
(C.1.3) The Need for Interpolation of Geophysical Line Survey Data............... 34
(C.2) Map Projection and Atlas Mapping ........................................... 34
(C.2.1) The UTM Projection ................................................. 35
(C.2.2) The Atlas Mapping Problem........................................... 35
(C.2.3) The Solution: The Antarctic Atlas Mapping Scheme ...................... 36
(C.2.4) Map Sheet Calculation with TRANSVIEW.............................. 40
(C.3) Geostatistical Estimation .................................................... 44
XII
(C.3.1) Concept of the Regionalized Variable and Principles of Variography......... 45
(C.3.2) Kriging ............................................................. 51
(C.3.3) Variography for Satellite Radar Altimeter Data over Antarctic Ice
Surfaces........................................................... 53
(C.3.4) Application: Search Algorithm and Kriging Parameters for Antarctic
Atlas DTMs. Mapping Parameters. ................................... 56
(C.3.4.1) Search Routine for Geophysical Line Survey Data and Software.... 56
(C.3.4.2) Grid Spacing ................................................ 57
(C.3.4.3) Mapping Parameters: Contouring and Coloring Scheme ........... 57
(C.3.5) Error Analysis ....................................................... 58
(C.3.6) Influence of the Radar Altimeter Sensor Compared to Influence
of the Variogram in Kriging for GEOSAT and ERS-1 Data .............. 60
(C.4) The Role of the Geodetic Reference Surface .................................... 64
(C.4.1) Ellipsoid and Geoid Concepts.......................................... 64
(C.4.2) Mapping of Ice Surfaces with Reference to Geoid Models .................. 67
(II) The Atlas
(D) Atlas Maps..................................................................... 73
(D.0) Map Organization and Description Principles................................... 73
(D.1) Latitude Row 63-68◦S: Maps from GEOSAT and ERS-1 Radar Altimeter Data ..... 78
Map m45e37-53n63-68 Casey Bay .......................................... 78
Map m57e49-65n63-68 Napier Mountains .................................... 82
Map m69e61-77n63-68 Mawson Coast East .................................. 86
Map m81e73-89n63-68 Leopold and Astrid Coast ............................. 88
Map m93e85-101n63-68 Queen Mary Coast .................................. 92
Map m105e97-113n63-68 Knox Coast ....................................... 96
Map m117e109-125n63-68 Sabrina Coast .................................... 100
Map m129e121-137n63-68 Clarie Coast...................................... 104
Map m141e133-149n63-68 Ad´elie Coast...................................... 108
Map m153e145-161n63-68 Ninnis Glacier Tongue ............................. 112
Map m297e289-305n63-68 Antarctic Peninsula (Graham Land) ................. 114
(D.2) Latitude Row 67-72.1◦S: Maps from GEOSAT and ERS-1 Radar Altimeter Data.... 118
Map m15we23W-7Wn67-721 Ekstro¨m Ice Shelf .............................. 118
Map m3we11w-5n67-721 Fimbul Ice Shelf................................... 120
Map m9e1-17n67-721 Princess Astrid Coast ................................. 124
Map m21e13-29n67-721 Erskine Iceport..................................... 126
Map m33e25-41n67-721 Riiser-Larsen Peninsula ............................. 130
Map m45e37-53n67-721 Prince Olav Coast .................................. 134
Map m57e49-65n67-721 Kemp Coast ....................................... 138
Map m69e61-77n67-721 Lambert Glacier.................................... 140
Map m81e73-89n67-721 Ingrid Christensen Coast ............................ 146
Map m93e85-101n67-721 Wilkes Land (e85-101n67-721)....................... 148
Map m105e97-113n67-721 Wilkes Land (e97-113n67-721)...................... 150
Map m117e109-125n67-721 Wilkes Land (e109-125n67-721) .................... 152