USGS Educational Resources
Alaska and the Arctic | Antarctica | Climate Change | Glaciers and Ice | Photographs | Wildlife | Other USGS Resources | See entire resources index
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Satellite Imagery
Antarctica DEM and AVHRR Stereo Images
| What is it? | What Can I Do With It? | What Does It Look Like? |
|---|---|---|
This is an online, digital elevation mapping of Antarctica. |
Investigate Antarctica using the stereo image, and examine landforms and structural features, such as surface fractures, faults, folds, and drainage patterns. Learn more… |
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Satellite Image Map of Antarctica (Map I-2560)
| What is it? | What Can I Do With It? | What Does It Look Like? |
|---|---|---|
This map, a mosaic of satellite images, contains few labels and therefore is useful for examining the surface of Antarctica. |
Use this map of the entire Antarctica continent to learn and teach about the physical geography of the continent. Learn more… |
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Digital Elevation and Imagery Map of Antarctica
| What is it? | What Can I Do With It? | What Does It Look Like? |
|---|---|---|
This is a digital elevation map, in USGS MIPS image format. |
Use this mapping site to interactively examine elevation and satellite imagery of the Antarctic continent. Learn more… |
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Earthshots Satellite Images of Global Change: Antarctica
| What is it? | What Can I Do With It? | What Does It Look Like? |
|---|---|---|
These images show the seaward edge of the Filchner Ice Shelf, on the coast of Antarctica, facing the Atlantic. In the austral winter of 1986, the front edge of the Filchner Ice Shelf broke off into the sea, forming three large icebergs. This was a major, long–awaited calving. |
Use this site to examine changes that can be detected via Landsat satellite imagery, and read the explanatory text provided. Learn more… |
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GLIMS — Global Land Ice Measurements from Space
| What is it? | What Can I Do With It? | What Does It Look Like? |
|---|---|---|
GLIMS is a project designed to monitor the world's glaciers primarily using data from the ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and reflection Radiometer) instrument aboard the EOS Terra spacecraft, launched in 1999. The USGS acquires an annual image of all the world's glaciers. GLIMS includes software for tracking glaciers' location, areal extent, and velocity; a network of global centers that monitor the glaciers in their regions. |
Use GLIMS to investigate the status of the Earth´s glaciers, including reports and presentations. This site includes an interactive GLIMS glacier map viewer, where you can download map data for use to analyze with geographic information systems software. Learn more… |
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Landsat Satellite Imagery
| What is it? | What Can I Do With It? | What Does It Look Like? |
|---|---|---|
This is a continuous 30–year record of 30–meter resolution, multi–band satellite imagery for the planet, with some 15–meter data as well. The imagery is band separated and full resolution. |
Explore a variety of satellite imagery and learn more about the scope and history of the program at the Landsat site. Learn more… |
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Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World
(USGS Professional Paper 1386)
| What is it? | What Can I Do With It? | What Does It Look Like? |
|---|---|---|
Between 1979 and 1981, satellite images were distributed to a team of 70 scientists from 25 nations and 45 institutions, who are authoring sections of this paper concerning either a geographic area (chapters B–K) or a glaciological topic (included in Chapter A—State of the Earth´s Cryosphere). Chapters thus far include Antarctica, Greenland, Europe, Turkey–Iran–Africa, Indonesia and New Zealand, South America, and North America. |
Study glaciers of the world, and associated population and natural and environmental implications through this series of well–illustrated and visually stunning satellite image atlases. Learn more… |
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Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World—Antarctica
(USGS Professional Paper 1386-B)
| What is it? | What Can I Do With It? | What Does It Look Like? |
|---|---|---|
This paper offers detailed reports, images, graphs, and maps of Antarctica ´s glaciers, their movement and change, and implications for the planet.
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Study glaciers of Antarctica, and associated regional and global natural and environmental implications, through this well–illustrated and visually stunning satellite image atlas. Learn more… |
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