Antarctica: Terrain & Seafloor 36x36

Antarctica: Terrain & Seafloor is the ultimate physical map of Antarctica. This wall map is printed on heavyweight matte poster paper at high resolution and shipped in a sturdy cardboard tube to avoid creasing. The map is square in orientation and measures 36 inches by 36 inches (3 feet by 3 feet).

Map elements:

• A digital elevation model of Antarctica and surrounding islands in the Southern Ocean. Data was downloaded from the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Snow & Ice Data Center in TIFF format, tile-by-tile. Each individual tile was then stitched and blended together to form a continental elevation mosaic and clipped to a highly accurate continental coastline. Ice shelves, ubiquitous around the Antarctic shoreline, are clearly differentiated from land.

  
  

• A digital bathymetric model of the surrounding Southern Ocean. Similar to continental elevation, TIFF tiles were downloaded from the world's foremost authority on seafloor mapping, the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), and stitched into a Southern Ocean mosaic.

  
  

• A detailed depiction of :

  • Mountain summits with corresponding elevations in feet

  • Terrestrial and submarine volcanoes with corresponding elevations or depths in feet

  • Mountain ranges, plateaus, valleys, and other significant landforms

  • Islands, points, capes, and other coastal features

  • Research stations

  • Seafloor ridges, seamount chains, basins, fracture zones, and other significant features

  • Pinpoint locations of significant seamounts, guyots, banks, shoals, and reefs; all of which are precisely labeled

  • Ice shelves and ice tongues

    
    

Saving the technical challenges of creating a map centered on the South Pole for last, Antarctica: Terrain & Seafloor was the seventh and final product completed in the Continental Terrain & Seafloor Series. Stylistically, an elevation raster image is still present, but with an "ice cap" themed color ramp that, together with seafloor imagery, makes the continent appear as a glowing ball of blue fire. Map highlights include the complex Transantarctic Mountains, ice shelves clinging to the continental coastline, and the remote, volcanic Balleny Islands amidst a significant cluster of seamounts.