2014-2015 lidar survey of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Airborne lidar data were collected with the Optech Titan multispectral sensor of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica during the austral summer of 2014-2015 as part of an effort to understand geomorphic changes over the past decade. Lidar point density varied from 2 to >10 returns per m2 with an average of about 5 returns per m2. Vertical and horizontal accuracies are estimated to be 0.07 m and 0.03 m, respectively. The lidar coverage comprises roughly 3600 km2 with includes the bottoms and sides of Taylor, Pearse, Wright, Victoria, Mckelvey, Barwick, and Valham valleys, Bull Pass, in addition to other ad hoc regions nearby including the Pegasus flight facility and two regions on Ross Island, McMurdo Station/Scott Base (and surroundings), and the coastal margin between Cape Royds and Cape Evans. A detailed description of the survey can be found in the Earth System Science Data publication High-resolution elevation mapping of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, and surrounding regions (Fountain et al., 2017). Publications associated with this dataset can be found at NCALM's Data Tracking Center