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Digital SAR Mosaic and Elevation Map of the Greenland Ice Sheet, Version 1

Metadata Updated: July 11, 2025

The Digital SAR Mosaic and Elevation Map of the Greenland Ice Sheet combines the most detailed synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image mosaic available with the best current digital elevation model. The mosaic image shows both the ___location of the ice edge and the distribution of melt-related 'scatterers' on the surface. These scatterers include ice lenses and complex layered structure in the percolation zone and bare ice of the ablation zone. Other melt-related features that can be seen include lake and surface meltwater stream channels at lower elevations, as well as ice-marginal lakes.This characterization of the ice sheet provides a reference against which future change can be measured. Changing conditions resulting from climatic variation should show up as changes in the ice margin and shifts in the hydrologic zones. It is hoped that the standard reference provided by this data set can facilitate activities aimed at change detection and promote other work aimed at understanding the processes operating on the ice sheet.The image data are derived from SAR image swaths acquired by the ERS-1 satellite during August of 1992. The mosaic was assembled at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Its component images are a copyrighted product of the European Space Agency. The mosaic, a value-added derived product, is available to individuals and non-profit organizations for research oriented purposes only. The Danish geodetic and cadastral agency Kort-og Matrikelstyrelsen (KMS) compiled the elevation data provided with the product from a number of sources, including field surveys, aerial photographs, and the ERS-1 radar altimeter.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date April 9, 2025
Metadata Updated Date July 11, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 9, 2025
Metadata Updated Date July 11, 2025
Publisher NASA NSIDC DAAC;NSIDC
Maintainer
Identifier 10.5067/WZMPK0L17X7N
Data Last Modified 2025-07-09
Category Earth Science
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 026:00
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 62d3e957-b0c9-416b-942d-f9c64164a2a0
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Old Spatial "CARTESIAN",{"WestBoundingCoordinate":-73.0,"NorthBoundingCoordinate":84.0,"EastBoundingCoordinate":-10.0,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":60.0}
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 91d67fc575e00f8d9db7b0465cc482558ad3a38b6c0cae96098dd4f5147606c7
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial

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