Written by Danielle Salley, Four Green Steps

A new digital map of Antarctica has been developed by using billions of data points gathered by satellites in polar orbit belonging to the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.  Over 3,000 orbital tracks were studied between 2007-2009 and united to form an updated image of the continent.  This new development will be increasingly useful for researchers to predict how our warming climate may affect Antarctica’s large landmass.

NASA was one of the supporters in the creation of this digital map.  Before this combined effort, nearly 77% of the continent remained unmapped, and ice flow predictions were no more than assumptions based on models.  Scientists have now established a mapping technique that involves radar pulses to identify rare formations several meters below the surface that can then tracks their movement.  Some formations moved 800 feet per year—the equivalent of an 80 storey building on a horizontal plane!

The map shows a pattern of organized glaciers connected from the interior regions of the continent with its coast.  The flow toward the coast is mainly caused by sheets of ice sliding on rocky beds.  Fortunately, these findings will permit accurate predictions of ice-sheet evolution, which will become increasingly important for tracking future sea-level rises as expected from climate change.

Both NASA and the University of California, Irvine, posted an animation of the ice’s movement.

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