Comparisons of Satellite and Airborne Altimetry With Ground‐Based Data From the Interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet
Kelly M. Brunt, B. E. Smith, Tyler Sutterley, N. T. Kurtz, T. Neumann
Abstract
Abstract A series of traverses has been conducted for validation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat‐2) on the flat interior of the Antarctic ice sheet. Global Navigation Satellite System data collected on three separate 88S Traverses intersect 20% of the ICESat‐2 reference ground tracks and have precisions of better than ±7 cm and biases of less than ∼4 cm. Data from these traverses were used to assess heights from ICESat‐2, CryoSat‐2, and Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM). ICESat‐2 heights have better than ±3.3 cm bias and better than ±7.2 cm precision. ATM heights have better than 9.3 cm bias and better than ±9.6 cm precision. CryoSat‐2 heights have −38.9 cm of bias and ±47.3 cm precision. These best case results are from the flat ice‐sheet interior but provide a characterization of the quality of satellite and airborne altimetry.