HIGHER RESOLUTION SATELLITE PICTURES

This brief note describes the latest satellite techniques of photographing the weather and geography of the Antarctic. Weather satellites normally orbit too high up to produce high-resolution pictures. A recent satellite, NOAA-2, can resolve 3-km features with scanning radiometers instead of television cameras. Conventionally, higher resolution could be provided by the ERTS-A satellite, with pictures covering 185 square km at 70M, resolution, although the same area is covered only every 18 days. A compromise is available on NOAA-2, with the VHRR (very high resolution radiometer), which can resolve 1km, in a 2200 km square area, in either visible or infrared channels. An example is given of a picture in both channels of the Ross Ice Shelf area. These show what appears to be stable 150 km, long flows of warm air down glacier valleys. Another set of pictures shows, with a photographic enlargement of a radiometer scan, new detail in an ice shelf, where the existing maps of the area are shown to be incorrect. /TRRL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Scott Polar Research Institute

  Lensfield Road
  Cambridge CB2 1ER,   England 
• Authors:
  • SWITHINBANK, C
• Publication Date: 1973

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 739-751
• Serial:
  • Polar Record
  • Volume: 16
  • Issue Number: 104

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aerial photography; Artificial satellites; Geography; Polar regions; Radiometers; Scanners; Terrain; Weather
• Uncontrolled Terms: Resolution
• Old TRIS Terms: Polar; Satellite program; Scanning
• ITRD Terms: 4006: Aerial photography; 8134: Polar regions; 4035: Terrain; 2545: Weather
• Subject Areas: Design; Geotechnology; Highways; I41: General Soil Surveys;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00128153
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 21 1976 12:00AM