GLAS/ICESat 500 m Laser Altimetry Digital Elevation Model of Antarctica, Version 1
Data set id:
NSIDC-0304
DOI: 10.5067/K2IMI0L24BRJ
This is the most recent version of these data.

Overview

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 Antarctica 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 500 m grid spacing. The grid covers all of Antarctica north of 86° S. 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.
Parameter(s):
GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION
Platform(s):
ICESAT
Sensor(s):
GLAS
Data Format(s):
Binary
Temporal Coverage:
1 February 2003 to 30 June 2005
Temporal Resolution:
Not Specified
Spatial Resolution:
  • 500 m
  • 500 m
Spatial Coverage:
N:
-63
S:
-86
E:
180
W:
-180
Blue outlined yellow areas on the map below indicate the spatial coverage for this data set.

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Help Articles

How to Articles

The following steps outline the process for visualizing the GLAS/ICESat 500 m Laser Altimetry Digital Elevation Model of Antarctica (NSIDC-0304) data product in ArcGIS. At the time of writing, these instructions are relevant to ArcMap 10.4
Data from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) can be accessed directly from our HTTPS file system. We provide basic command line Wget and curl instructions for HTTPS file system downloads below.