Antarcticalc2000: The New Antarctic Land Cover Database For The Year 2000

Antarctic Land Cover Database for the Year 2000 (AntarcticaLC2000) was produced 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 1:100,000-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. Results show that the areas and percentages of ice-free rocks, blue ice, and snow/firn are 73,268.81 km² (0.537%), 225,937.26 km² (1.656%), and 13,345,460.41 km² (97.807%), respectively. The comparisons with other different data proved a higher accuracy of our product and a more advantageous data quality.