NASA, USGS release high-resolution images of Antarctica

Washington, USA, 13 March 2007: Researchers from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have woven together nearly 1,100 images from the Landsat 7 satellite to create the most detailed high-resolution map ever produced of Antarctica. The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) offers seamless, cloud-free views of the coldest continent on Earth in 10 times greater detail than ever has been possible, according to March 7 statements from NASA and USGS.

Researchers at NASA, USGS and the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, England, have launched a Web site http://lima.usgs.gov/ with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation to offer public access to the image mosaic. The site contains original images and close-ups of areas of Antarctica, all available for download. The research group will continue to release additional parts of the mosaic until it is complete, and it is expected to be complete by the end of September 2007.

"These images give us incredibly detailed views of the Antarctic ice sheet surface and serve as maps for many locations that have never been mapped before," said Robert Bindschadler, chief scientist at the Laboratory for Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, in a March 7 statement. Bindschadler oversaw the selection of the scenes used to create the mosaic.


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