CRYOSAT: A Mission to Determine Fluctuations in the Earth's Ice Fields
Abstract
Fluctuations in the mass of the Earths land and marine ice fields have implications for changing sea level, the polar radiation balance and the ocean thermohaline circulation. Until recently, the fluctuation of land ice mass was known only to ~20% of its turnover; fluctuations in sea ice mass to within perhaps a factor of two. Satellite altimeters have, in the past decade, greatly reduced the uncertainty in the mass imbalance of the interior of the large ice sheets. Nonetheless, fluctuations of some 30% of the land ice mass, principally in coastal Antarctica, and almost all of the Earths sea ice, remain obscure. These uncertainties are addressed by the CryoSat mission, the first of the European Space Agency (ESA) Earth Explorer Opportunity Missions. The main payload of CryoSat is a high-resolution, normal incidence radar altimeter, the SIRAL, which combines conventional pulse-limited altimeter hardware with new synthetic aperture and interferometric signal processing. These additions will allow CryoSat to complete satellite altimeter coverage of the ice sheets, and, for the first time, to systematically monitor changes in thickness of Arctic sea ice. This paper will describe the scientific context and objectives of the mission, summarise how these will be achieved technically, describe the present status of the mission, and outline the approach to the validation of the measurements and their wider exploitation.
- Publication:
-
EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly
- Pub Date:
- April 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003EAEJA....14579W