GLAS/ICESat 1 km Laser Altimetry Digital Elevation Model of Greenland  View Catalog Page Entry ID
NSIDC-0305
Summary
The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) instrument on the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) provides global measurements of elevation, and repeats measurements along nearly-identical tracks; its primary mission is to measure changes in ice volume (mass balance) over time. This digital elevation model (DEM) of Greenland is derived from GLAS/ICESat laser altimetry profile data and provides new surface elevation grids of the ice sheets and coastal areas, with greater latitudinal extent and fewer slope-related effects than radar altimetry.
This DEM is generated from the first seven operational periods (from February 2003 through June 2005) of the GLAS instrument. It is provided on polar stereographic grids at 1 km grid spacing. The grid covers all of Greenland south of 83° N. Elevations are reported as centimeters above the datums, relative to both the WGS 84 ellipsoid and the EGM96 geoid, in two separate elevation data files. A data quality map of the interpolation distance is distributed in addition to the elevation data. ENVI header files are also provided.
The data are in 4-byte (long) signed integer binary files (big endian byte order) and are available via FTP.
Geographic Coverage
Spatial Coordinates:
N: 83°
S: 60°
E: -11°
W: -73°
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Data Set Citation
Dataset Creator: John P. DiMarzio
Dataset Title: GLAS/ICESat 1 km Laser Altimetry Digital Elevation Model of Greenland
Dataset Release Date: 2007-06-21
Dataset Release Place: Boulder, Colorado USA
Dataset Publisher: NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center
Online Resource: http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0305.html
Temporal Coverage
Start Date: 2003-02-01
Stop Date: 2005-06-30
Data Resolution
Latitude Resolution: 1 km
Longitude Resolution: 1 km
Location Keywords
- CONTINENT NORTH AMERICA GREENLAND
Science Keywords
- Cryosphere Glaciers/Ice Sheets Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation
- Cryosphere Glaciers/Ice Sheets Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation
- Terrestrial Hydrosphere Glaciers/Ice Sheets Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation
- Terrestrial Hydrosphere Glaciers/Ice Sheets Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation
Ancillary Keywords
- Altimetry
- Dem
- Digital Elevation Model
- Elevation
- Greenland
- Ice Sheet
- Ice Sheet Elevation
- Polar
- Polar Stereographic
Platform
- ICESAT Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite
Instrument
- GLAS Geoscience Laser Altimeter System
Project
- ICESAT Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite
Quality
Slope and elevation accuracy of the DEMs is best near the latitudinal limit of satellite coverage (±86°), and provides a good representation of the ice sheet and mountain areas (based on comparison with satellite images). DEM accuracy decreases as track spacing between ICESat profiles increases equatorward.
As a quality and accuracy indicator, the mean distance of all contributing GLAS surface spot data to the grid cell center was recorded in a separate identical grid for each ice sheet. These mean distance files are provided with the elevation data.
Data Set Progress
complete
Data Center
NASA DAAC at the National Snow and Ice Data Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org/daac/index.html
Data Center Personnel
Name: NSIDC User Services
Phone: 1 303 492-6199
Fax: 1 303 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
- National Snow and Ice Data Center
- CIRES, 449 UCB
- University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org
Data Center Personnel
Name: NSIDC User Services
Phone: 1 303 492-6199
Fax: 1 303 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
- National Snow and Ice Data Center
- CIRES, 449 UCB
- University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA
Distribution
Distribution Media: FTP
Distribution Size: 24 MB
Distribution Format: Binary
Personnel
John Dimarzio
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: 1 301 614-5893
Email: john.dimarzio@gsfc.nasa.gov
Contact Address:
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
- SGT, Inc.
- SGT, Inc.
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
- Cryospheric Sciences Branch Code 614.1
City: Greenbelt
Province or State: MD
Postal Code: 20771
Country: USA
Anita Brenner
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Email: anita.brenner@gsfc.nasa.gov
Contact Address:
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
- SSAI
- Code 614.5
City: Greenbelt
Province or State: MD
Postal Code: 20771
Country: USA
Helen Fricker
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Contact Address:
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
- University of California, San Diego
- 9500 Gilman Dr.
City: La Jolla
Province or State: California
Postal Code: 92093
Country: USA
Robert Schutz
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Contact Address:
- University of Texas at Austin
- Center for Space Research
- GLAS Science Team Lead
- University of Texas at Austin
- Center for Space Research
City: Austin
Province or State: TX
Postal Code: 78712-1085
Country: USA
Christopher A. Shuman
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: 1 301 614-5706
Email: Christopher.A.Shuman@nasa.gov
Contact Address:
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
- Cryospheric Sciences Branch
- Cryospheric Sciences Branch
- Code 614.1
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
City: Greenbelt
Province or State: MD
Postal Code: 20771
Country: USA
H. Jay Zwally
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: 1 301 614-5643
Fax: 1 301 614-5644
Email: Jay.Zwally@nasa.gov
Contact Address:
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
- Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes
- Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
- Code 971
City: Greenbelt
Province or State: MD
Postal Code: 20771
Country: USA
NSIDC User Services
Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT
Phone: 1 303 492-6199 x
Fax: 1 303 492-2468 x
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
- National Snow and Ice Data Center
- CIRES, 449 UCB
- University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA
Related URL
VIEW PROJECT HOME PAGE
ICESat/GLAS Data at NSIDC
VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
GLAS/ICESat 500 m Laser Altimetry Digital Elevation Model of Antarctica
VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Polar Ice Sheet DEMs and Elevation Data
Reference
Abshire, J., and 8 others. 2005. Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) on the ICESat mission: on-orbit measurement performance. Geophysical Research Letters v. 32, L21S02, doi:10.1029/2005GL1024028.
Brenner, A., and 11 others. 2003. Derivation of range and range distributions from laser pulse waveform analysis for surface elevations, roughness, slope, and vegetations heights, Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD) v.4.1, available at http://www.csr.utexas.edu/glas/atbd.html.
DiMarzio, J. P., A. C. Brenner, and H. J. Zwally. 2004. Comparison of Envisat and ERS radar altimetry for ice sheet elevation change studies. ESA Envisat Sympsium, Salzburg, Austria, September 9, 2004.
Krabill, W., W. Abdalati, and 7 others. 2002. Aircraft laser altimetry measurement of elevation changes of the Greenland Ice Sheet: technique and accuracy assessment. J. Geodynamics 34, 357-376.
Shuman, C., J. Zwally, B. Schutz, A. Brenner, J. DiMarzio, V. Schuedo, and H. Fricker. 2006. ICESat Antarctic elevation data: preliminary precision and accuracy assessment. Geophysical Research Letters 33, L07501, doi:10.1029/2005GL025227.
Zwally, H. J., A. C. Brenner, J. A. Major, T. V. Martin, and R. A. Bindschadler. 1990. Satellite radar altimetry over ice, Vol. 1. Processing and corrections of Seasat data over Greenland. NASA Reference Publication 1233.
Metadata Name and Version
Metadata Name: CEOS IDN DIF
Metadata Version: 9.7
Creation and Review Dates
DIF Creation Date: 2007-06-21
Last DIF Revision Date: 2012-09-18
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