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Full catalog/NSIDC-0754
NSIDC-0754·v1·dataset

How fast Antarctica's ice flows (radar phase map)

MEaSUREs Phase-Based Antarctica Ice Velocity Map V001
cryosphere NASA NSIDC_CPRD Level 3 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. A detailed map of how fast and in which direction the ice across Antarctica is flowing. It is far more precise than earlier maps, especially over the vast interior.

How it's made. Built by combining radar signals from many satellites and using the subtle phase of those radar waves to track ice motion, mostly covering 2007 to 2018 with extra data added to fill gaps.

How & where you'd use it. Lets scientists see where Antarctic ice is speeding up or slowing down, a key input for understanding ice loss and future sea level rise.

What's measured

CRYOSPHERE › SNOW/ICE › ICE VELOCITY

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1996-01-01 → 2018-12-31
  • Measured byALOS (PALSAR) · ALOS-2 (PALSAR-2) · ENVISAT (ASAR) · ERS-1 (SAR) · ERS-2 (SAR) · LANDSAT-8 (OLI) · RADARSAT-1 (SAR) · RADARSAT-2 (SAR) · SENTINEL-1A (C-SAR) · SENTINEL-1B (C-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, as part of the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Program, combines interferometric phases from multiple satellite interferometric synthetic-aperture radar systems to derive the first comprehensive phase-based map of Antarctic ice velocity. The precision in ice speed and flow direction over 80% of Antarctica is better than prior mappings based on feature and speckle tracking by a factor of 10. Phase-derived velocity mostly covers the years between 2007 and 2018, while tracking-derived velocity (for regions along the coasts) is mostly found in the years from 2013 to 2017. Additional data acquired between 1996 and 2018 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-0754_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="NSIDC-0754",
    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.