Antarctica in HD

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center just recently displayed a stunning new map of Antarctica which combines 1,000 digital satellite images into a mosaic with the most geologically precise high resolution images of the frigid continent to date.  The images are in true color, depicting the hue variations of the frozen lands relief, including mountains, valleys, rivers and other geographic textures.   The map, which is a collage of images primarily taken by Landsat 7 from 1999 to 2001, has a resolution 10 times greater that its predecessors.  Robert Bindschadler, the NASA scientist who conceptualized the project, described the map:“This mosaic of images opens up a window to the Antarctic that we just haven’t had before…this innovation is like watching high-definition TV in living color versus watching the picture on a grainy black and white television.”  The map, dubbed LIMA (Landsat Image Mozaic of Antarctica) was composed by researchers from NASA. U.S. Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation, and the British Antarctic Survey.  Presenting the map was aptly timed to coordinate with the International Polar Year, a global campaign to study environmental changes in both polar regions.  Sites via NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey are available online to view these stunning images:           

 http://lima.nasa.gov                

http://lima.usgs.gov  

Sources:  NASA, U.S. Geological Survey, National Science Foundation, NY Times