BGS Hosted Metadata
Internal layers in the Antarctic Ice Sheet
This database provides access to internal layers digitised from airborne radio-echo sounding (RES) surveys conducted across the Antarctic Ice Sheet by a consortium of the UK Scott Polar Research Institute, US National Science Foundation and the Technical University of Denmark between 1974 and 1979. The internal layers at the time of surveying were only recorded onto film. In 2004 the original film records were scanned into a digital database, and from 2004-2006 'digitised' internal layers were retrieved from the new electronic records. The database contains digitised internal layers from the original analogue records, as well as 3-dimensional visualisations of the internal layers overlaid over Antarctic subglacial topography (BEDMAP).
The RES surveys conducted by this SPRI-NSF-TUD consortium took in approximately 400,000 km of flight track across both the West and East Antarctic Ice Sheets. Covering ~70% of the ice sheet overall. The surveys were driven principally by a desire to measure ice thickness, but also captured numerous internal layers existing through most of the depth profile across large swathes of the ice sheet.
Compilation of the database was sponsored by the NERC Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, and the data is hosted by NERC/British Antarctic Survey.
Simple
- Date (Creation)
- 2008-06-16
- Date (Revision)
- 2008-06-16
- Date (Publication)
- 2008-06-16
- Date (released)
- 2008-06-16
- Edition
-
1
- Unique resource identifier
- 3141b3df-2a16-47fd-a9de-6da30950c1fd
- Codespace
-
uuid
- Unique resource identifier
- GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/00326
- Codespace
- Other citation details
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Please cite this item as: None
- Credit
-
No credit.
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
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Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role British Antarctic Survey Bingham, Rob
Author NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre Point of contact
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
- Maintenance note
- Completed
- Theme
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Antarctic ice-sheet
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RES
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ice thickness
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ice-sheet
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radio-echo sounding
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- Place
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West Antarctic Ice Sheet Antarctica
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East Antarctic Ice Sheet Antarctica
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GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
- Access constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- no limitations to public access
- Access constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- no limitations
- Use constraints
- License
- Other constraints
- Open Government Licence v3.0
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
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Data released under Open Government Licence V3.0 :
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
-
No restrictions apply.
- Unique resource identifier
- url
- Codespace
-
url
- Association Type
- Cross reference
- Unique resource identifier
- url
- Codespace
-
url
- Association Type
- Larger work citation
- Spatial representation type
- Text, table
- Language
- English
- Character set
- UTF8
- Topic category
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- Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere
- Environment
- Geoscientific information
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- Begin date
- 1974-01-01
- End date
- 1979-01-01
- Supplemental Information
-
It is recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of any data, and that the author be contacted with any questions regarding appropriate use. If you find any errors or omissions, please report them to polardatacentre@bas.ac.uk.
- Title
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European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) Geodetic Parameter Registry
- Date (Publication)
- 2008-11-12
- Cited responsible party
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Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role European Petroleum Survey Group
Publisher
- Unique resource identifier
- urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3031
- Version
-
6.18.3
Distributor
- Distributor contact
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Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre Distributor
- Units of distribution
-
bytes
- Transfer size
- 1
- OnLine resource
-
Protocol Linkage Name WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
https://legacy.bas.ac.uk/bas_research/data/access/res/data.php Get Data
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
- Statement
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Methodology:
In 2004, as part of a NERC Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) initiative led by Professor Martin Siegert, then based in the Bristol Glaciology Centre, photographic copies of the raw 35 mm film records were scanned, and each scan was reformatted to form a single electronic copy of a RES transect (i.e. a 'jpeg' or 'tiff' file). Each transect was loaded into an image analysis package (i.e. ERDAS ImagineTM) in which internal layers were traced. The traced layers, in addition to the ice surface and bed, were then digitised at each navigational control point. The resulting dataset was then standardised with respect to the ice surface, such that the data relate to depths below the surface of the ice sheet. A CPOM follow-up to this work, conducted between 2005 and 2006 by Dr. Robert Bingham, then also based at the Bristol Glaciology Centre, was concerned with emplacing these data into a 3-D environment. This website provides a repository for both the 2-D traced internal layers and their visualisations within a 3-D environment.
Data collection:
RES data were collected using a 60 MHz system with a 250 ns pulse length. Navigation proceeded through the use of an inertial aircraft system, and although not as accurate as that which can be achieved using modern GPS, navigational accuracy was typically attained to within 1 km, an acceptable resolution for most ice-sheet modelling applications. Because the survey programme preceded the 'digital age', data recording was analogue only. Data were recorded onto 35 mm photographic film as 'Z-scope' 'radargrams', in which single RES pulses are stacked next to one another in a time-dependent manner, and navigational tick-marks added to these records enabled tying-in of the records with geographical waypoints. These data represent pseudo-cross-sections of the ice sheet from which internal layers can be viewed, traced and extracted. Nevertheless, prior to 2004, the analogue records pertaining to internal layers remained largely unused in glaciological applications: this was primarily because the data were not in digital form thus it was difficult and time-consuming to extract information relevant to modelling.
Metadata
- File identifier
- 3141b3df-2a16-47fd-a9de-6da30950c1fd XML
- Metadata language
- English
- Character set
- UTF8
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
- Hierarchy level name
-
dataset
- Date stamp
- 2008-06-16
- Metadata standard name
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ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata
- Metadata standard version
-
ISO 19115:2003(E)
- Metadata author
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Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre Point of contact
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