Computer Simulations of Various Locations in Ice Free Valleys of Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

This page contains material put together for Geof Haines-Stiles and Richard Dowling, producers for Maryland Public Broadcasting Service of the "LIVE FROM...ANTARCTICA" television series in December 1994-January 1995. It illustrates some of the things MSSS is doing with a digital elevation model of the ice-free valleys in Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica.

Base Image

Landsat image of Ice-Free Valleys
GIF = 1300 KBytes
JPEG = 228 KBytes

Full Resolution Still Frames

Views of Wright Valley, Lake Vanda, Asgard and Olympus Ranges

These images show examples of images created from the digital database at "television" resolution (640 wide X 480 high).

View looking East down Wright Valley from South Fork (Cirque 6)
GIF = 112 KBytes
JPEG = 21 KBytes

View looking South across Asgard Range from Upper Wright Valley
GIF = 115 KBytes
JPEG = 20 KBytes

View looking West towards Upper Wright Glacier (middle right)
GIF = 134 KBytes
JPEG = 24 KBytes

View North across Olympus Range (Mt. Circe and Dido)
GIF = 119 KBytes
JPEG = 22 KBytes

Views of Taylor Valley, Lake Hoare, Canada Glacier and Environs

View Northeast down Taylor Valley from near Hill 1882
GIF = 133 KBytes
JPEG = 24 KBytes

View towards Canada and Commonwealth Glaciers
GIF = 121 KBytes
JPEG = 23 KBytes

Lake Hoare, Canada Glacier, Lake Fryxll, Commonwealth Glacier
GIF = 90 KBytes
JPEG = 18 KBytes

Canada, Suess, and Lacroix Glaciers and Lake Hoare
GIF = 129 KBytes
JPEG = 26 KBytes

MPEG Movies

Movie flying towards east and Lower Wright Valley
MPEG = 74 KBytes

This movie shows a high speed flight east through the central Wright Valley. It passes Lake Vanda to the south before it approaches the Goodspeed, Hart, Meserve, and Bartley Glaciers.

Movie panning from west to north to east in Upper Wright Valley
MPEG = 168 KBytes

This movie shows a pan from west to east. Starting in the west and moving north, you see, sequentially, the Upper Wright Glacier, the Olympus Range (Mt. Dido, Circe, and Hecules), then Lake Vanda and finally the Lower Wright Valley and the Goodspeed, Hart, Meserve, and Bartley Glaciers.

Comparison of Real Image and Computer Generated Image

Real Image looking East towards Lower Wright Valley
GIF = 180 KBytes
JPEG = 41 KBytes

Synthetic Image looking East towards Lower Wright Valley
GIF = 165 KBytes
JPEG = 25 KBytes

Caption: View east down the central Wright Valley, Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. The alpine glaciers feeding into this ice-free valley (one of a very few in Antarctica) are, from left to right, the Goodspeed, Hart, Meserve, and Bartley Glaciers, named after field assistants (graduate students) of Robert Nichols during his pioneering studies of the glacial history of these valleys during the International Geophysical Year and subsequent field seasons. This image clearly shows the classic U-shaped cross section of a glacially-eroded valley. Close inspection also shows that the valley wall is in fact compoundly U shaped, reflecting multiple episodes of glaciation. From his studies during the IGY, Troy Pewe first proposed that these valleys had experienced several episodes of glaciation; this view has been substantiated by many subsequent investigators, and the details have been further amplified by, among others, George Denton, a Professor at the University of Maine who was another of Nichols' assistants.