Abstract:
This dataset contains the annual ice front position shapefiles of the Thwaites Glacier Ice Tongue between 2000 and 2018 as shown in the Miles et al. (2020) paper. Each shapefile was mapped manually from MODIS imagery in the March of each year. The dataset details the retreat of the ice tongue and transition from a tabular calving regime to a disintegration type calving.
This work was funded by NERC grant NE/R000824/1.
Keywords:
Thwaites, calving, glacier, ice front, terminus
Miles, B., Stokes, C., Jenkins, A., Jordan, J., Jamieson, S., & Gudmundsson, G. (2021). Thwaites ice front position shapefiles 2000-2018 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/1355a656-2b8d-4e95-b524-bfc1a7c686fb
| Access Constraints: | No restrictions apply. |
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| Use Constraints: | This data is supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/. |
| Creation Date: | 2021-01-11 |
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| Dataset Progress: | Complete |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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| Personnel: | |
| Name | UK Polar Data Centre |
| Role(s) | Metadata Author |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Bertie W J Miles |
| Role(s) | Technical Contact, Investigator |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Name | Chris R Stokes |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Name | Adrian Jenkins |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Northumbria University |
| Name | James R Jordan |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Northumbria University |
| Name | Stewart S R Jamieson |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Name | G. Hilmar Gudmundsson |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Northumbria University |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
| Reference: | Miles, B., Stokes, C., Jenkins, A., Jordan, J., Jamieson, S., & Gudmundsson, G. (2020). Intermittent structural weakening and acceleration of the Thwaites Glacier Tongue between 2000 and 2018. Journal of Glaciology, 66(257), 485-495. doi:10.1017/jog.2020.20 | |
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| Quality: | In some cases, the heavily fractured nature of the Thwaites Glacier Tongue made mapping the ice front difficult. For consistency, we took the same approach for each image and always mapped the outer edge of connected ice blocks at each time step. | |
| Lineage: | The ice front position was mapped every March between 2000 and 2018 from MODIS satellite imagery. In some cases, the heavily fractured nature of the Thwaites Glacier Tongue made mapping the ice front difficult. For consistency, we took the same approach for each image and always mapped the outer edge of connected ice blocks at each time step. | |
| Temporal Coverage: | |
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| Start Date | 2000-01-01 |
| End Date | 2018-12-31 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -75.5 |
| Northernmost | -74.5 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -108.25 |
| Easternmost | -105.75 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Data Resolution: | |
| Latitude Resolution | N/A |
| Longitude Resolution | N/A |
| Horizontal Resolution Range | N/A |
| Vertical Resolution | N/A |
| Vertical Resolution Range | N/A |
| Temporal Resolution | annually |
| Temporal Resolution Range | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Thwaites Glacier |
| Sensor(s): |
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| Source(s): |
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| Data Collection: | The ice-fronts were mapped from MODIS satellite imagery from the NASA Worldview application (https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov). |
| Distribution: | |
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| Distribution Media | Online Internet (HTTP) |
| Distribution Size | 37 kB |
| Distribution Format | SHP |
| Fees | N/A |
| Data Storage: | There are 114 data files. The files are shapefiles (.shp) and can be displayed via any GIS application (e.g. QGIS, ArcMap) in addition to python, Matlab etc. There is also an ASCII text Readme.txt file. |