Bedmap3: new data and gridded products of Antarctic ice thickness, surface and bed topography

We present Bedmap3, the first comprehensive and openly available compilation of Antarctic Ice Sheet survey datasets, plus the latest gridded mapping products of ice thickness and the surface and bed topography of the whole Antarctic continent and continental shelf. For 60 years, scientists have strived to understand the past, present and future of the ice sheet, a goal that has become ever more urgent as ice loss accelerates. Key to this research has been the mapping of the bed-topography, surface slope and ice-thickness parameters that are crucial for modelling ice flow, and hence for predicting future ice loss and ensuing sea level rise. Supported by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and data contributions from the international survey community, the Bedmap3 Action Group has now produced substantially updated gridded maps of these parameters and, for the first time, has standardized and made available all underlying geophysical survey data points from all Antarctic ice-thickness survey campaigns since the 1950s. Here, we describe the standardization that makes these and future datasets accessible under the ‘Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable’ (FAIR) data principles, allowing scientists to re-use these data freely for their own analysis. We also describe the results of our new mapping, and how this changes our view of Antarctica’s hidden landscapes and its potential to dominate future sea level rise.