Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) images are being used in an ambitious international project to map the extent of Earth's glaciers and the rate at which they are changing. High-resolution ASTER images make it possible to distinguish and track small features on glacier surfaces. Images presented at the American Geophysical Union meeting by Rick Wessels from Arizona State University showing details of glacial snow and ice are contributing to the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) project, a global consortium led by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Dobbin Bay is at the bottom of this ASTER image (top) of several glaciers in the Canadian Arctic on Ellesmere Island. The image was taken on July 31, 2000.
The detail (bottom image) of the leading edge of the Eugenie Glacier's "floating tongue" reveals surface cracks and extensive calving of icebergs in Dobbin Bay.
Image courtesy University of Alberta and NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
