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Full catalog/NSIDC-0645
NSIDC-0645·v1·dataset

Greenland surface elevation map (GIMP)

MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project (GIMP) Digital Elevation Model V001
cryosphere NASA NSIDC_CPRD Level 3 GeoTIFF
In plain English

What it measures. A detailed elevation map of Greenland's ice sheet, showing how high the ice surface sits above sea level across the whole island.

How it's made. Built by stitching together elevation data from the ASTER and SPOT 5 satellite cameras around the ice sheet's edges, filling in the interior with measurements from the AVHRR instrument, and calibrating everything against laser-height readings from NASA's ICESat satellite.

How & where you'd use it. Helps scientists track the shape and thickness of Greenland's ice, model how it flows, and measure changes over time as the climate warms.

What's measured

CRYOSPHERE › GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS › GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2003-02-20 → 2009-10-11
  • Measured byICESAT (GLAS) · NOAA-14 (AVHRR-2) · SPOT-5 (HRS) · TERRA (ASTER)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-75, 60, -14, 83
  • FormatsGeoTIFF
  • 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 consists of an enhanced resolution digital elevation model (DEM) for the Greenland Ice Sheet. It was constructed by combining ASTER and SPOT 5 DEMs over the ice sheet periphery and margin with AVHRR photoclinometry for the interior and far north, and calibrating the data to approximate mean ICESat/GLAS elevations from 2003 to 2009. See <a href="http://nsidc.org/data/measures/gimp">Greenland Ice Mapping Project (GIMP)</a> for related data.

Get the data

nsidc-0645_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="NSIDC-0645",
    version="1",
    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.