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Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica

Open-knowledge reference entry

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 5, 2025
Entity authorityQ126371920 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA) is a digital elevation model (DEM) that covers almost the entire continent of Antarctica at a resolution of less than 10 m.

Model

REMA uses stereophotogrammetry to provide high-quality surface measurements of the surface of the ice sheet that covers most of the continent, despite the low contrast of the satellite images.

Elements of the mosaic include an error estimate and a time stamp, so changes in the ice or snow surface can be measured.

Absolute uncertainty should be less than 1 meter, and relative uncertainties should be in decimeters.

The satellite images have pixel ground resolutions of under 0.5 meters, and overlapping images from different angles can be used to extract elevation data for DEMs.

Based only on satellite position, there may be errors of several meters, but through ground control registration these can be reduced to point-to-point errors of 20 centimeters or less, comparable in accuracy to airborne lidar.

Most of the initial data was collected over the austral summer seasons of 2015 and 2016.

The model is updated with new DEM strips twice per year.

Derived mosaic products are added as they become available.

Data sources and licensing

REMA was built using stereoscopic imagery from the WorldView-1, WorldView-2, WorldView-3 and GeoEye-1 satellites, operated by DigitalGlobe.

Editorial summary

“Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica” enters the record as open-knowledge reference entry. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Elevation, Model and Antarctica can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2015, 2016—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Elevation, Model and Antarctica.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Elevation, Model and Antarctica provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 5, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q126371920. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2015 and 2016.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica primary sources, Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica archive and Elevation research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.