GLIMS Update: Global ASTER imaging reprioritization

[Jeffrey Kargel]

Gordon,

Tomorrow Tuesday 6 Dec., Hyatt and Fisherman's Wharf, in the Kargel 
conference suite; don't know room number yet-- just ask at desk.

You offer some fine ideas for discussion tomorrow.

--Jeff


>From: Gordon Hamilton <gordon.hamilton at maine.edu>
>To: GLIMS Mail List <glims at flagmail.wr.usgs.gov>
>CC: csatho.1 at osu.edu, jeffreyskargel at hotmail.com,        Kees van der 
>Veen<vanderveen.1 at osu.edu>
>Subject: Re: GLIMS Update: Global ASTER imaging reprioritization
>Date: Mon,  5 Dec 2005 18:10:26 -0500
>
>Hey Jeff--
>
>well, you sure know how to start a discussion! As one of the high latitude
>GLIMSers, let me add my two pesos -- we can talk more at the workshop
>this week (remind me, when is it? Tuesday or Wednesday evening?) and again
>at the team meeting next week, but suffice it to say now, I don't think
>it is realistic to scale back or eliminate high latitude scene 
>acquisitions.
>There is simply too much good science to be lost if such a plan is carried
>out. A simple look at scene statistics does not tell the whole story --
>in Greenland, for example, where we have been doing a lot of work recently,
>there does seem to be a large number of cloud-free scenes. But for our
>applications (quantitative change detection, such as velocity mapping and
>repeat DEM comparisons), only a small proportion of these scenes turn out
>to be useful (because of things like imaging geometry, presence of thin
>cirrus clouds, etc.). In other words, we are stuggling to do some of our
>core tasks because of a lack of *usable* imagery, too.
>
>I have another suggestion that we might pursue with NASA managers and
>ASTER ops people next week: we continue to use ASTER for high latitude
>scene acquisitions (as long as the Japanese remain willing to do off-nadir
>pointing), but push for NASA to do a commercial data buy of Ikonos, 
>Quickbird, Digital Globe, etc. imagery for smaller mid/low latitude
>glaciers. The commercial products would continue to be available under
>the current pricing system (no-cost of $55/scene). Some arguments in
>support of this idea:
>- ASTER is one of the few sensors capable of imaging the far northern
>and southern parts of the planet
>- swath widths of ASTER are decent for the large glaciers we study in
>these regions (i.e., a 65 x 65 km scene covers most, but sometimes not
>all, of a polar glacier)
>- smaller swaths of commercial data (10 x 10 km if I remember correctly)
>might be well suited to the usually smaller ice masses in the low/mid
>latitudes
>- improved spatial resolution of commercial data would also be
>advantageous for studying smaller glaciers.
>Granted, it might be necessary to stitch together several commercial
>scenes to cover an alpine ROI, but at least the data will be good.
>
>Anyway, just another suggestion for us to discuss. It's not perfect
>and there are probably a lot of downsides that I haven't thought
>about, but it might be a way of keeping us all happy and doing good
>science.
>
>See you soon,
>
>-gordon
>
>
>
>
>--
>Gordon Hamilton, Assoc. Professor Climate Change Institute University of 
>Maine, Orono, ME 04469 gordon.hamilton at maine.edu 207-581-3446 
>(ph/voicemail) 207-581-1203 (fax)