New map of Antarctica is published

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. and British researchers have published a new map of Antarctica they said could revolutionize exploration of the continent.

The scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation and the British Antarctic Survey said the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica is a nearly cloudless satellite view of the Antarctic continent at a resolution 10 times greater than previously produced satellite images. It utilized the NASA-built Landsat 7 satellite.

With the unprecedented ability to see features half the size of a basketball court, researchers said the mosaic offers the most geographically accurate, true-color, high-resolution views of Antarctica to date.

"This innovation is like watching high-definition TV in living color versus watching the picture on a grainy black-and-white television," said Robert Bindschadler, chief scientist of NASA's Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "These scenes don't just give us a snapshot, they provide a time-lapse historical record of how Antarctica has changed and will enable us to continue to watch changes unfold."

The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica is available at http://lima.usgs.gov.