How fast Antarctica's ice flows, from radar — NSIDC-0484

In plain English

What it measures. A high-resolution map of how fast and in which direction ice is flowing across Antarctica, the first comprehensive picture of the whole continent's ice motion.

How it's made. Assembled from many radar satellites that compare repeat passes over the same ground to detect movement, stitched into a single mosaic, mostly using data from 2007-2016.

How & where you'd use it. Lets scientists see where ice is speeding up or slowing down, which is key to understanding how Antarctica's ice sheet is changing and how much it could add to sea-level rise.

What's measured

CRYOSPHERE › SNOW/ICE › ICE VELOCITY

Coverage & cadence

Time span1996-01-01 → 2016-12-31
Measured byALOS (PALSAR) · ENVISAT (ASAR) · ERS-1 (SAR) · ERS-2 (SAR) · LANDSAT-8 (OLI) · RADARSAT-1 (SAR) · RADARSAT-2 (SAR) · SENTINEL-1A (C-SAR, SAR) · TDX (SAR) · TSX (SAR)
Processing levelLevel 3
Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, -60
FormatsnetCDF-4
StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

Measure sea ice, snow cover and glaciers
Watch ice-sheet elevation change
Track freeze/thaw and permafrost

Official description

This data set, part of the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Program, provides the first comprehensive, high-resolution, digital mosaics of ice motion in Antarctica assembled from multiple satellite interferometric, synthetic-aperture radar systems. Data were largely acquired during the International Polar Years 2007 to 2009, as well as between 2013 and 2016. Additional data acquired between 1996 and 2016 were used as needed to maximize coverage. See <a href="https://nsidc.org/data/measures/aiv">Antarctic Ice Sheet Velocity and Mapping Data</a> for related data.

Get the data

nsidc-0484_access.py

import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="NSIDC-0484",
    version="2",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from NSIDC_CPRD

Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.

What's measured

Coverage & cadence

What you can do with it

Get the data

Official links