Print This Post
Cryosat-2 Now Sending Data on Arctic and Antarctic Ice Thickness
Cryosat-2 focuses on ice target
By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
Cryosat tracks over the Ross Ice Shelf and Ross Sea on 11 April
The Cryosat-2 mission is delivering on its promise to make high-precision radar measurements of polar ice.
The first data from the European spacecraft has been presented at an Earth observation meeting in Norway.
The information clearly shows Cryosat has the required sensitivity to assess the state of Antarctic and Arctic ice, according to its lead scientist.
“All of the measurement concepts have been confirmed,” University College London (UCL) Professor Duncan Wingham told BBC News.
The European Space Agency’s Cryosat-2 satellite was launched in April on a quest to map the thickness and shape of the Earth’s polar ice cover.It carries a single instrument – a SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter (Siral) – which has a capability that far exceeds the previous space-borne radar technology used for this purpose.
Please click here to read the entire article.
Note from Dorothy – Here are two interesting images from the BBC article:
HOW TO MEASURE ICE THICKNESS FROM ORBIT
Cryosat's radar has the resolution to see the Arctic's floes and leads Some 7/8ths of the ice tends to sit below the waterline - the draft The aim is to measure the freeboard - the ice part above the waterline Knowing this 1/8th figure allows Cryosat to work out sea ice thickness
And here’s another, this one of the Arctic sea ice
Another radar echo track, acquired this time in the Arctic, illustrates Cryosat's ability to see the gaps, or leads, in the ice - something it has to do to make an assessment of ice thickness. This only became possible last week after several weeks of calibration work on Siral. Cryosat has to be able to distinguish the floes from the leads
.
“The spacecraft is mid-way through a six-month commissioning phase. Once this is complete, calibrated and validated data will be delivered to the scientific community.”
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10450425.stm
