Glaciology From ICESat - East Antarctic Megadunes

Beginning on February 20, 2003, NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) began collecting high-precision elevation data across Antarctica. Using the first of its three lasers, this satellite altimetry mission has rapidly provided an extensive data set of ice sheet elevations as well as meteorological phenomena. This presentation will focus on the elevation profiles from four ascending and four descending tracks taken from the first 6 cycles of ICESat data. As part of an NSF-sponsored field project in a portion of East Antarctica's megadunes, these elevation profiles were used to support and refine our ground-based observations. The eight ICESat tracks that intersect over our field site have been quality controlled to remove the effects of clouds and/or blowing snow and then processed to yield precise repeat track and crossover elevations. Although not yet fully calibrated, ICESat's elevation measurements are sufficiently precise to illustrate the several-meter amplitude and several-kilometer wavelength of these extensive ice sheet features. Additional aspects of this valuable new glaciological data set will also be presented.