Byrd Glacier
LIMA presents the first-ever, true-color, high-resolution view of Antarctica. Prepared from 1100 Landsat-7 images collected from 1999 to 2003, it provides scientists and non-scientists a stunning "you are there" view of the least familiar continent. Shown here are two perspectives of Byrd Glacier, one of the largest in Antarctica. The down-glacier view (above) looks northeastward and the up-glacier regional view (below) looks southward toward the South Pole which is 1050 km distant. The 15-meter resolution imagery is draped over the Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project Digital Elevation Model Version 2.
Byrd Glacier plunges through a deep valley in the Transatlantic Mountains and onto the Ross Ice Shelf, dropping more than 4,300 feet over a distance of 112 miles. It remains a distinct ice stream all the way to the edge of the shelf, some 260 miles from the foot of the mountains to the open sea.
![This cross image of the slow-moving Darwin Glacier in the foreground and the faster-moving Byrd Glacier in the background as both glaciers approach the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. A 2x vertical exaggeration has been applied to the topography. This cross image of the slow-moving Darwin Glacier in the foreground and the faster-moving Byrd Glacier in the background as both glaciers approach the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. A 2x vertical exaggeration has been applied to the topography.](/static/svs/images/no_preview_web_black.png)
This cross image of the slow-moving Darwin Glacier in the foreground and the faster-moving Byrd Glacier in the background as both glaciers approach the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. A 2x vertical exaggeration has been applied to the topography.
![The glacial ice has a blue cast and bears long stripes that echo the currents in a river. The current in this ice stream carries more ice to the Ross Ice Shelf than any other ice stream. A 4x vertical exaggeration has been applied to the topography. The glacial ice has a blue cast and bears long stripes that echo the currents in a river. The current in this ice stream carries more ice to the Ross Ice Shelf than any other ice stream. A 4x vertical exaggeration has been applied to the topography.](/static/svs/images/no_preview_web_black.png)
The glacial ice has a blue cast and bears long stripes that echo the currents in a river. The current in this ice stream carries more ice to the Ross Ice Shelf than any other ice stream. A 4x vertical exaggeration has been applied to the topography.
![This poster of Antarctica's Byrd Glacier was presented at IPY's Oslo Science Conference on June 8-12, 2010. The full poster is available here. This poster of Antarctica's Byrd Glacier was presented at IPY's Oslo Science Conference on June 8-12, 2010. The full poster is available here.](/static/svs/images/no_preview_web_black.png)
This poster of Antarctica's Byrd Glacier was presented at IPY's Oslo Science Conference on June 8-12, 2010. The full poster is available here.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, Canadian Space Agency, RADARSAT International Inc.
LIMA Data provided by: Patricia Vornberger (SAIC) LIMA data produced by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and NASA
Animator
- Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC)
Scientist
- Bob Bindschadler (NASA/GSFC)
Release date
This page was originally published on Tuesday, June 15, 2010.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:54 PM EDT.
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
[Landsat-7: ETM+]
ID: 55This dataset can be found at: http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/wrs.html
See all pages that use this dataset[7.5-Minute DEM]
ID: 413
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.