EASE-Grid 2.0: Incremental but Significant Improvements for Earth-Gridded Data Sets

Defined in the early 1990s for use with gridded satellite passive microwave data, the Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid (EASE-Grid) was quickly adopted and used for distribution of a variety of satellite and in situ data sets. Conceptually easy to understand, EASE-Grid suffers from limitations that make it impossible to format in the widely popular GeoTIFF convention without reprojection. Importing EASE-Grid data into standard mapping software packages is nontrivial and error-prone. This article defines a standard for an improved EASE-Grid 2.0 definition, addressing how the changes rectify issues with the original grid definition. Data distributed using the EASE-Grid 2.0 standard will be easier for users to import into standard software packages and will minimize common reprojection errors that users had encountered with the original EASE-Grid definition

Global Land Ice Measurements from Space

LXXIX, 876 p. 409 illus., 336 illus. in color.onl

Glacier mapping and monitoring using multispectral data

Multispectral satellite data represent the primary data source for spaceborne glacier mapping and monitoring, and remote-sensing studies have generated significant results regarding global glacier observations and understandings. In this chapter we provide an overview of the use of multispectral data and the methods typically applied in glacier studies. Besides multispectral techniques based on the visible and near-infrared section and the shortwave infrared section of the spectrum, we also briefly discuss methods for analyzing thermal and radar data, with special emphasis on the mapping of debris-covered glacier ice. A further focus is on spectral change detection techniques applied to multitemporal data, with special attention to a novel image-differencing technique. Then we provide an overview of satellite image–based measurement of glacier flow. Finally, we offer a suggestion for a new combination of glacier observations to be made by both multispectral and radar/microwave remote-sensing sensors

Glacier mapping and monitoring based on spectral data

Spectral, and not least multi-spectral satellite data represent the backbone of spaceborne glacier mapping and monitoring, and have allowed for substantial progress of global glacier observations in recent years. In this chapter we give an overview of the information contained in, for the most part, ASTER or Landsat type spectral data, and of methods to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze this information for glacier studies. Besides multispectral techniques based on the visible, and near- and short-wave infrared sections of the spectrum, we also shortly discuss methods based on thermal and radar data, with special emphasis on the mapping of debris-covered glacier ice. A further focus is on spectral change detection techniques applied to multitemporal data over glaciers, with special attention to a novel image differencing technique. Finally, we give an overview of satellite-image based measurement of glacier flow, a group of methods that we view as a category of spectrally-based change detection