REMA

BACKGROUND

The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA) project, led by Ian Howat at The Ohio State University was funded under National Science Foundation award #1543501 in 2016. The first version of the complete pan-Antarctic digital elevation model was released in September 2018.

REMA is constructed from stereoscopic, sub-meter resolution imagery collected by the WorldView satellite constellation. The high spatial and radiometric resolution of the imagery enables photogrammetric digital elevation model (DEM) extraction over low contrast terrains such as snow, ice, and shadows.

These DEMs have horizontal and vertical offsets of up to several meters that can be reduced to the DEM relative accuracy of 0.2 meters with a single ground control point. REMA uses available control points from ground and LiDAR surveys to register individual DEMs and optimized, least-squares co-registration to provide control between overlapping DEMs over large regions.

REMA has postings of 8 meters and 2 meters in areas of interest, and accuracy better than 1 meter.

EFFORTS

The project lead, Ian Howat at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center heads development. Data processing is facilitated by the Blue Waters supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The PGC provides satellite imagery, manages DEM production, and freely disseminates the final data products.

For more information, visit the REMA page.