Abstract
Antarctica plays a key role in global energy balance and sea level change. It has been conventionally viewed as a whole ice body with high albedo in General Circulation Models or Regional Climate Models and the differences of land cover has usually been overlooked. Land cover in Antarctica is one of the most important drivers of changes in the Earth system. Detailed land cover information over the Antarctic region is necessary as spatial resolution improves in land process models. However, there is a lack of complete Antarctic land cover dataset derived from a consistent data source. To fill this data gap, we have produced a database named Antarctic Land Cover Database for the Year 2000 (AntarcticaLC2000) using Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data acquired around 2000 and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) images acquired in the austral summer of 2003/2004 according to the criteria for the 1:100000-scale. Three land cover types were included in this map, separately, ice-free rocks, blue ice, and snow/firn. This classification legend was determined based on a review of the land cover systems in Antarctica (LCCSA) and an analysis of different land surface types and the potential of satellite data. Image classification was conducted through a combined usage of computer-aided and manual interpretation methods. A total of 4067 validation sample units were collected through visual interpretation in a stratified random sampling manner. An overall accuracy of 92.3% and the Kappa coefficient of 0.836 were achieved. Results show that the areas and percentages of ice-free rocks, blue ice, and snow/firn are 73268.81 km2 (0.537%), 225937.26 km2 (1.656%), and 13345460.41 km2 (97.807%), respectively. The comparisons with other different data proved a higher accuracy of our product and a more advantageous data quality. These indicate that AntarcticaLC2000, the new land cover dataset for Antarctica entirely derived from satellite data, is a reliable product for a broad spectrum of applications.
