-------- Original Message --------
Subject: USGS Collaborates on Unique, Comprehensive View of Antarctica
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 15:19:49 -0500
From: Karen Renee Wood <[log in to unmask]>
To: maps-l
News Release
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
For release: March 7, 2007
Contact: Doug Binnie, 605-594-6160, [log in to unmask]
Jan Nelson, 605-594-6173, [log in to unmask]
*USGS Collaborates on Unique, Comprehensive View of Antarctica *
The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) in collaboration with the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the British Antarctic
Survey (BAS) is developing a unique and versatile map of Antarctica
using satellite imagery. The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica or LIMA
combines nearly 1100 hand-selected Landsat satellite scenes that are
being digitally woven together to create a single, seamless, cloud-free
image of the Antarctic continent—the most detailed color representation
of this vast and frozen landmass ever produced. The National Science
Foundation is funding the LIMA project.
The scenes being used to create the new mosaic map of Antarctica were
drawn from more than 8,000 collected by Landsat 7’s Enhanced Thematic
Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensor from 1999 through 2006. The digital weaving,
or mosaicking, of Landsat scenes for most of the continent is being
performed at the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science
(EROS); BAS researchers are generating the Antarctic Peninsula region of
the map. While Landsat scenes make up most of the map’s digital dataset,
some images captured by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) instruments carried aboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, and
possibly a small amount of radar data, will be used to fill in the part
the Antarctic continent surrounding the geographic South Pole not “seen”
by Landsat 7 as it circles the Earth in its near-polar orbit.
In conjunction with the new mosaic, researchers with the LIMA project
are creating an Antarctic Web portal and online map which will be
available in the near future. From this portal, anyone from scientists
and educators to members of the general public will be able to download
the mosaic in sections, as well as any of the individual Landsat scenes
used to create it. The mosaic will be available in four versions—natural
color, false color, panchromatic and pan-sharpened—that are each
designed to satisfy a different scientific and visual need. The LIMA
online map viewer will display the mosaic and ancillary geographic
features, such as place names.
“The optical remote sensing characteristics of the Landsat sensor, and
other satellite observations, provide a unique, never-before-seen view
of this critical continent of the Earth system, and the availability of
the final data set via internet-based tools will represent a tremendous
scientific asset for the global Earth science community,” said R.J.
Thompson, Director of EROS.
LIMA is one of several hundred projects funded in conjunction with the
International Polar Year (IPY), a 2-year event that runs from March 2007
to March 2009. Focused on both the Arctic and Antarctic, IPY is a
multinational scientific undertaking, one that involves coordinated
expeditions, observations and analyses and that marks the beginning of a
sustained effort to understand large-scale environmental change in the
Earth's polar regions.
The USGS manages the Landsat Program, which was began in 1972 with the
launch of the first Landsat satellite. Over the past 35 years, sensors
aboard Landsat satellites have captured millions of digital images of
the Earth’s land masses and coastal regions that are used by researchers
worldwide to study global change, natural disasters and other aspects of
the Earth’s terrestrial environment.
For more information about the Landsat Program, visit
_http://landsat.usgs.gov/_
USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit
_www.usgs.gov_.
Subscribe to USGS News Releases via our _electronic mailing list_ or
_RSS_ feed.
**** www.usgs.gov ****
Karen Wood
Public Affairs Specialist
U.S. Geological Survey, Office of Communications
703-648-4447
Fax: 703-648-4466
Email: [log in to unmask]
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