Antarctica's 'most complete satellite image' finally available for public viewing

A new most complete map of Antarctic has been made available for everybody, which could be very helpful for climate research.

The University of Waterloo has unveiled a new satellite image of Antarctica, and the imagery will help scientists all over the world gain new insight into the effects of climate change. The mosaic map of the Antarctic is the latest addition to the CCIN's Polar Data Catalogue and it is available on the Polar Data Catalogue website.

Professor Ellsworth LeDrew, director of the CCIN and a professor in the Faculty of Environment at Waterloo, said that the mosaic provided an update on the ever-changing ice cover in this area that would be of great interest to climatologists, geologists, biologists and oceanographers.

Using Synthetic Aperture Radar with multiple polarization modes aboard the RADARSAT-2 satellite, the CSA collected more than 3,150 images of the continent in the autumn of 2008, comprising a single pole-to-coast map covering all of Antarctica. This was the first such map of the area since RADARSAT-1 created one in 1997.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA), MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA), the prime contractor for the RADARSAT-2 program, and the Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN) at UWaterloo, teamed up for the project and the academic world and public could easily access the full mosaic for free.