CryoSat mission returns detailed images of polar ice
APR 24, 2012
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026001
BBC : Launched in 2010, the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 spacecraft has been monitoring changes in the thickness and extent of polar ice, writes Jonathan Amos for the BBC. Not only has Cryosat-2 delivered unprecedented views of the recent and rapid erosion of summer Arctic sea ice but it has also provided data on ice volume, necessary for understanding the long-term viability of the ice. To discern the detail in the ice sheets’ steep slopes and ridges, Cryosat-2 employs one of the highest-resolution synthetic aperture radars ever put in orbit and a special interferometric observing mode that uses two antennas.
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
