Map tracks ice flow across Antarctica

BBC : Scientists have produced what they say is the first complete map of how the ice moves across Antarctica, writes Jonathan Amos for the BBC. Published online by Science, the map was assembled from billions of radar data points collected between 1996 and 2009 by satellites belonging to Europe, Canada, and Japan. “We designed acquisition plans, switching on and off the satellites, in all the right desired geographic locations so we could fill the gaps we didn’t have data in before,” said Mark Drinkwater from the European Space Agency. “That was a mammoth effort.” Ice movement is detected using a technique called interferometric synthetic aperture radar, or InSAR, which compares images from repeat passes over the same location. The map work, which was completed as part of the 2007-08 International Polar Year, should contribute to our understanding of how Antarctica might evolve in the warmer world being forecast by climatologists.