Scientists
Research Grants
Scientific Publications
Informatics Research
NSIDC Scientific Expeditions
Scientists blog from Antarctica and provide a glimpse of what it's like to do research in the field. 
What's hot in the news around climate and sea ice and what are scientists talking about now? The data files are provided in GeoTIFF (.tif) format. The final image mosaic is composed of 36 tiles (see Figure 1), each of which encompasses a set of 12 files: nine image files for each Landsat 7 ETM+ band, two index images (one at 15 m and one at 30 m resolution; designated with _N_ in the file name), and one accompanying metadata file in ASCII text (.txt) format. Each pixel in the index image provides the identification number (scene ID) of its corresponding Landsat source image, which is also listed in the metadata file. In addition to the scene ID, the metadata file provides the source-image acquisition time and, if available, the root mean-square control point registration error (RMSE). For a more detailed description, see the file naming convention section, which describes the file names on the example of tile 0,5.
MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project (GIMP) 2000 Image Mosaic, Version 1
This data set, part of the NASA's Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) program, provides a complete 15 m resolution image mosaic of the Greenland ice sheet, derived from USGS Landsat 7 ETM+ imagery and Canadian Space Agency's (CSA) RADARSAT-1 imagery from the years 1999 to 2002. Additional bands (some at 30 m resolution) are provided for each tile in the mosaic and are useful for understanding surface properties, such as snow grain size, bedrock outcrops, mapping layering in the snow, and blue ice or lake-filled regions, during the spring and summer months. The panchromatic (band 8) mosaic provides the highest-resolution view of the ice sheet surface at 15 m, resolving topographic features, large crevasses, and other geophysical structures.
See Greenland Ice Mapping Project (GIMP) for related data.
This is the most recent version of these data.
Initial release
COMPREHENSIVE Level of Service
Data: Data integrity and usability verified; data customization services available for select data
Documentation: Key metadata and comprehensive user guide available
User Support: Assistance with data access and usage; guidance on use of data in tools and data customization services
|
Geographic Coverage |
Other Access Options
Close
Once you have logged in, you will be able to click and download files via a Web browser. There are also options for downloading via a command line or client. For more detailed instructions, please see Options Available for Bulk Downloading Data from HTTPS with Earthdata Login. Earthdata Search: This application allows you to search, visualize, and access data across thousands of Earth science data sets. Additional customization services are available for select data sets, including subsetting, reformatting, and reprojection. |
As a condition of using these data, you must cite the use of this data set using the following citation. For more information, see our Use and Copyright Web page.
Howat, I. 2017, updated 2018. MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project (GIMP) 2000 Image Mosaic, Version 1. [Indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.5067/4RNTRRE4JCYD. [Date Accessed].Literature Citation
As a condition of using these data, we request that you acknowledge the author(s) of this data set by referencing the following peer-reviewed publication.
Howat, I., A. Negrete, and B. Smith. 2014. The Greenland Ice Mapping Project (GIMP) land classification and surface elevation data sets , The Cryosphere. 8. 1509-1518. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1509-2014
Detailed Data Description
The following tables explain the file naming convention for the mosaics included in this data set (on the example of tile 0,5). Table 1 provides the naming convention and example file names; Table 2 describes the variables used in the file naming convention.
| File Type | Naming Convention | Example File Names |
|---|---|---|
| Image Files | [tile_C_R]_mosaic_[RR]_band[B][_radarsat]_v1.1.ext | tile_0_5_mosaic_15m_band1_v1.1.tif tile_0_5_mosaic_15m_band2_v1.1.tif tile_0_5_mosaic_15m_band3_v1.1.tif tile_0_5_mosaic_15m_band4_v1.1.tif tile_0_5_mosaic_15m_band8_v1.1.tif tile_0_5_mosaic_15m_band8_radarsat_v1.1.tif tile_0_5_mosaic_30m_band5_v1.1.tif tile_0_5_mosaic_30m_band6_1_v1.1.tif* tile_0_5_mosaic_30m_band6_2_v1.1.tif* tile_0_5_mosaic_30m_band7_v1.1.tif |
| Index Files | [tile_C_R]_mosaic_[RR]_N_v1.1.ext | tile_0_5_mosaic_15m_N_v1.1.tif tile_0_5_mosaic_30m_N_v1.1.tif |
| Metadata File | [tile_C_R]_meta_v1.1.ext | tile_0_5_meta_v1.1.txt |
*The naming convention is different for band 6 and includes the two gain settings: band6_1 (low gain), band6_2 (high gain).
| String | Description |
|---|---|
| tile_C_R | Column and row of mosaic tile. Tile 0_0 is in the lower left corner, Tile 5_5 is in the upper right (see Figure 1) |
| mosaic | mosaic image file |
| RR | Resolution (15m or 30m) |
| band[B] | Landsat 7 ETM+ band (1 through 8) |
| radarsat | RADARSAT-1 SAR data used in the mosaic for that tile (absent if not used) |
| N | Index image |
| meta | Metadata file containing each Landsat scene identification number (scene ID) used in the mosaic, acquisition time for that tile, and the root mean-square control point registration error where available. |
| v1.1 | version 1.1 |
| .ext | Filename extension (.tif for GeoTIFF file and .txt for metadata file) |
The image files (.tif) range from 2.5 to 266 MB. The index files (*N.tif) range from 2.2 to 2.4 MB. The metadata files (.txt) range from 1 to 2 KB.
The total data set volume is approximately 25.3 GB.
The spatial coverage is:
Southernmost Latitude: 60° N
Northernmost Latitude: 82° N
Easternmost Longitude: 20° W
Westernmost Longitude: 70° W
Spatial Resolution
The spatial resolution is 15 m for bands 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8, and 30 m for bands 5, 6, 7.
Projection and Grid Description
Data are provided in standard NSIDC polar stereographic north grid (EPSG 3413) centered on Greenland.
The data are provided as a set of 36 tiles of 6 rows by 6 columns, numbered from 0-0 in the lower left corner to 5-5 in the upper right (see Figure 1). Each tile has dimensions of 249.3 km by 450 km. These dimensions were selected because they are divisible by 15 m, which is the resolution of Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) band-8 (panchromatic) imagery.
30 June 1999 to 04 September 2002
Temporal Resolution
The temporal resolution is approximately three years.
The parameter for this data set is ice sheet/glacier surface morphology.
Parameter Description
This data set provides a high-resolution image mosaic of the Greenland ice sheet that can be used for mapping and land surface classification.
The panchromatic (band 8) mosaic provides the highest-resolution view of the ice sheet surface (15 m), resolving topographic features, large crevasses, and other geophysical structures. The additional bands provided for each tile are useful for understanding surface properties during the spring-summer months, such as snow grain size, bedrock outcrops, mapping layering in the snow, and blue ice or lake filled regions.
Software and Tools
Data Acquisition and Processing
The 15 m resolution image mosaic was created using USGS's Landsat 7 ETM+ and CSA's RADARSAT-1 SAR imagery. The methods include a combination of image cloud masking, pan sharpening, image sampling and resizing, and image coregistration. Please see Howat (2014) for more information regarding processing methods.
This data set was produced from images acquired by the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) from the RADARSAT-1 satellite.
South of approximately 81.2° N, orthorectified Landsat 7 ETM+ imagery distributed by the USGS was used. Using 01 August 2000 as a target date, imagery was selected from July and August, as close in time as possible to 01 August for the years, in preferential order, of 2000, 1999, 2001 and 2002. North of the maximum extent of Landsat, the data include SAR amplitude imagery mosaics acquired between October and December 2000 by the CSA's RADARSAT-1 satellite. These data were produced by the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington as part of GIMP (Joughin et al., 2010).
For Landsat data, all imagery was filtered for clouds and visually inspected for quality. In order to increase the consistency of the grayscale between images, each digital number image was converted to reflectance, including corrections for sun angle and distance using the parameters provided in the metadata. Multispectral bands 1 through 4 were pan-sharpened to 15 m posting using band-8 and a simple and fast additive method in which the band-8 image was down-sampled to 30 m and differenced from each multispectral band. The difference image was then up-sampled to 15 m using bilinear interpolation and added to the band-8 image. The pan-sharpened reflectance images were re-gridded using cubic convolution and mosaicked to the reference grid. Where images overlapped, the pixel that was closest in time to the target date of 1 August 2000 was selected. The mosaicked images were converted back to a byte-precision digital number by linearly scaling the reflectance values to the global minimum and maximum for each band.
The SAR data are distributed at 20 m resolution. Data were up-sampled through bilinear interpolation to 15 m to match the resolution of Landsat band-8.
The RADARSAT and Landsat band-8 imagery were merged by applying a stretch to the RADARSAT image so that the histograms of both data sets matched where they overlapped.
The final image mosaic is distributed in 249.3 to 250 km tiles. These dimensions were selected because they are divisible by 15 m, which is the resolution of USGS's Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) band-8 (panchromatic) imagery. Each tile has one image for each band, plus an index image in which each pixel gives the index number of its corresponding source image in an accompanying metadata file. The metadata file lists each Landsat scene identification number (scene ID) used in the mosaic for that tile, the acquisition time and the root-mean-square control point registration error where available. The original scene ID, acquisition date and geolocation error for any pixel in an image can be obtained using the index image.
Please see Howat (2014) for more information regarding processing methods.
The USGS employs two levels of geo-registration processing for their imagery (see http://landsat.usgs.gov/Landsat_Processing_Details.php). First, Standard Terrain Correction (Level 1T) incorporates both ground control points and a DEM for terrain corrections. Geodetic accuracy depends on the accuracy of the ground control and the quality of the DEM and is better than 90 m. Imagery covering the periphery and margin of the ice sheet, where features are visible on the surface, are processed to L1T. For L1T imagery, the root mean square of the residual between the geolocation model and the ground control are provided in the imagery metadata and are typically several meters. Second, Systematic Correction (Level 1G) uses only the satellite ephemeris for geolocation, providing a 1σ geometric accuracy within 250 m. Scenes over the featureless interior of the ice sheet are typically processed to L1G. As with USGS's Landsat, the primary source of geolocation error in the CSA's RADARSAT imagery is error in the DEM used for terrain correction and these errors are similar in magnitude to the Landsat mosaic (Moon and Joughin, 2008).
Please see Howat (2014) for more information regarding the quality and processing methods used to produce this data set.
Version 1.1 was released April 2017. Refer to Table 1 for this data set's version history:
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| V1.1 | This version corrects the location of the upper left pixel in each GeoTIFF file. The previous version incorrectly specified the location of the upper left pixel as the distance in meters from the north pole to the center of the upper left pixel. The corrected location of the upper left pixel is the distance in meters from the north pole to the upper left corner of the upper left pixel. This correction effectively shifted the location by one-half pixel to the upper left relative to their positions in the previous version. Only the geolocation metadata in each GeoTIFF have changed; the data array is the same as in the previous version. |
| V1 | Initial version (February 2017) |
References and Related Publications
Contacts and Acknowledgments
Document Information
DOCUMENT CREATION DATE
February 2017
DOCUMENT REVISION DATE
May 2019
