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isolated and icy Antarctica is among the

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most challenging natural laboratories to

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access getting to Antarctica isn't easy

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and landing a plane on McMurdo stations

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sea ice runway can give even the most

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seasoned researcher an adventurous

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arrival each year researchers from

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around the globe braved the frigid

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conditions in order to obtain critical

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field measurements on the ice sheet

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luckily remote sensing scientists have

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dedicated time to developing detailed

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accurate imagery of this frozen land

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from a far more hospitable vantage point

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this new image mosaic seen here is known

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as the Landsat image mosaic of

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Antarctica or Lima the spatial

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resolution of this satellite image

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you're seeing is 15 metres per pixel the

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most detailed satellite mosaic of the

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rugged continent ever created a hearty

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few have ventured here but as you can

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see this new image mosaic makes it

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possible for anyone to explore this

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remarkable region without ice axes

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crampons or the risk of frostbite

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throughout history this mysterious land

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has captivated researchers adventurers

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and those drawn to the most remote

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corners of the earth Antarctica is a

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land of extremes

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the highest driest coldest windiest and

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as we approach the mainland of

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Antarctica we can see how far the ice

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shelf extends off the coast of the

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continent roughly the size of the United

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States and Mexico combined Antarctica is

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almost completely covered by a thick

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layer of ice the virtual journey of

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Antarctica provided by Lima is due to a

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compilation of more than a thousand

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Landsat images acquired between 1999 and

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2001 to create the images data

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visualizers combined actual field data

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measurements and Leamas satellite

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imagery over a digital elevation model

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to give a three-dimensional effect as we

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move further inland you can begin to see

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that Antarctica is much more than an

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endless plain of snow you might be

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surprised to learn how to verse the

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terrain actually is the ground beneath

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the Antarctic Ice Sheet is a mixture of

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mountains Plains and ocean basins and

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the tallest mountains raise their rocky

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among Antarctica's most prominent

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features arts mighty glaciers like those

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seen here as we move over the Ferrar

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glacier we noticed that lima reveals

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some areas of bare ground where

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blistering winds has swept valleys clean

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of their snow cover glaciers are

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essentially slow-moving rivers of ice

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and they gradually deform over time

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these masses of ice form when snow

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accumulates in a stretch of land over

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thousands of years the snow eventually

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compresses enough to form dense glacial

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ice as the thickness of glacial ice

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increases its slowly succumbs to gravity

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and flows downhill or spreads out across

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flat lands moving glaciers forced by

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gravity sculpt the land as they erode

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the underlying rock Antarctica is a

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glacial hub 90% of the world's 33

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million cubic kilometers of glacial ice

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the tell-tale signs of glaciers are

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there flow stripes which you can see in

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the many smaller glaciers feeding into

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the large Ferrar glacier few people have

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the chance to experience a glacier

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firsthand in their lifetime and even

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fewer can access a bird's-eye view of

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these icy Giants Lima gives us an

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opportunity to soar above this unique

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landscape and experience a mesmerizing

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view of Antarctica's extraordinary

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this region's relentless and powerful

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winds are responsible for one of

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Antarctica's most fascinating features

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blue ice ice absorbs a small amount of

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red light but snow crystals are too

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small to show this light absorption

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effect however blue ice is comprised of

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larger ice crystals which makes the red

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light absorption more obvious an article

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is a fascinating natural laboratory but

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the continents frigid temperatures and

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inaccessibility have historically made

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it a difficult place to study now armed

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with a Landsat image mosaic of

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Antarctica researchers hope to get a

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better view of Antarctica and to