Validation and Analysis of the Antarctic Digital Elevation Models Based on Airborne Altimetry——A Case Study of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica

Based on the IceBridge airborne altimetry data collected over Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica, the accuracy of ICESat satellite altimetry data and four widely used DEMs of Antarctica, i.e., JLB97 DEM,RAMPv2 DEM,ICESat DEM and Bamber 1 km DEM were validated and analyzed. The results show that both of ICESat satellite altimetry data and ICESat DEM feature high reliability, with a bias less than 5 m and a standard deviation less than 15 m. The reliability of Bamber 1 km DEM is a bit lower than that of ICESat satellite altimetry data and ICESat DEM. The standard deviations of JLB97 DEM and RAMPv2 DEM comparing with IceBridge airborne altimetry data are larger than 30 m, and the reliabilities for JLB97 DEM and RAMPv2 DEM are low especially in the sloped areas