WASHINGTON – Media are invited to preview a new map of Antarctica 10 times more detailed than any before at 11 a.m. EST, Tuesday, Nov. 27, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Scientists from NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation and the British Antarctic Survey will introduce a new, accurate, true-color map of the continent. Scientists stitched together more than 1,000 scenes captured during seven years of Landsat satellite observations to create the bird’s eye view of the frozen landscape.

Members of the international research team will discuss how the high-resolution Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica will revolutionize Antarctic research. They also will describe how the mosaic gives the public a new way to explore the continent for themselves through a free, easy-to-use Web portal. Panelists at the briefing will be:

– Robert Bindschadler, chief scientist of the Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, Goddard

– Ray Byrnes, liaison for satellite missions, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va.

– Scott Borg, director of Antarctic Sciences, U.S. Antarctic Program, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Va.

– Andrew Fleming, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, England

For accreditation and access, media interested in attending the briefing must contact Andy Freeberg at andrew.h.freeberg@nasa.gov or 301-286-0746. Media interested in participating by telephone should contact Freeberg to obtain toll-free teleconference information. The event also will air live on NASA Television’s media channel at:

www.nasa.gov/ntv

Images and supporting data will be available at 11 a.m., Nov. 27, at:

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/lima_press_conf.html