ESA : To the Arctic for CryoSat and beyond .- El CryoSat para el Ártico y más allá...............

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/CryoSat/To_the_Arctic_for_CryoSat_and_beyond

Sea ice

 

20 March 2017

After the relative quiet of the long dark winter months, the Arctic will be a tad busier over the coming weeks as numerous researchers descend on this harsh, yet fragile environment. Their aim is not to disturb its beauty, but to join forces in an all-out effort to measure ice on land and sea.

Environmental changes in the Arctic are no longer only of interest to scientists.

The need to understand and respond to dwindling polar ice is being given increasing importance at global climate discussions and vital for adopting strategies to mitigate and to adapt to change.

Unequivocal evidence of changing polar ice comes largely from satellites.

Since it was launched in 2010, ESA’s CryoSat orbiting 700 km up has been measuring the height of the ice, both of that floating in the polar oceans and of the vast ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica. This provides essential information on how the thickness is changing and, in turn, how the volume of ice is changing.

 

Campaign takes off

Over the last seven years, there have been several expeditions to the Arctic that involve taking measurements with a suite of sensors on aircraft and readings taken by hand actually on the ice to compare with those of CryoSat. By doing all this, scientists can ensure that ice-thickness maps created from satellite data are correct.

This week sees the beginning of one of the largest Arctic expedition ever undertaken by ESA.

“We have scientists from around 10 agencies and institutes from all over the world converging in the Arctic,” explained Malcolm Davidson, head of ESA Earth observation campaigns.

 

Checking instruments in flight

“We are pooling resources with other agencies such as NASA and other institutes to make our campaign a huge collaborative international effort.

Arne Olesen from the Technical University of Denmark added, “And, with so many people prepared to work for weeks in the most remote places on the planet and put up with the extreme cold and hazardous conditions, it just reflects how passionate and dedicated everyone is about polar science and getting the best data possible.”

There is another purpose: to prepare for future satellite missions similar to CryoSat, but with even better measurement capabilities.

Dr Davidson continued, “Our understanding of changing ice has improved enormously thanks to CryoSat, but we must prepare for the future now and test new types of sensor that may be able to give us even better information.

 

Two frequencies on one plane

 

“So, while we are out in the Arctic we will be testing a new concept that involves a radar altimeter that works with two different wavelengths instead of only one like CryoSat.

“It’s always very exciting to be at the forefront of new technology. It is essential that we put in the groundwork to make sure a new concept will work – and, in this case, it means getting very cold and even the prospect of facing the occasional polar bear!”

While the expedition gets underway, CryoSat is also the focus of a conference in Alberta in Canada this week. Here, scientists have come together to discuss the latest results emerging from the mission.

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ESA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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NSF : Life on Earth: National Science Foundation awards $23 million for studies of planet's biodiversity .- Vida en la Tierra: los premios de la Fundación Nacional de Ciencias de $ 23 millones para estudios de biodiversidad del planeta

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., hemos recibido información de la Fundación Nacional de Ciencia de Los Estados Unidos, sobre un premio de U$ 23, millones; que la institución otorga a los  trabajos de investigación sobre la vida en la Tierra.

More information...........

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=136222&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click

Research will fill in knowledge gaps, lead to advances in health, agriculture, energy and manufacturing

A field researcher in Alaska places experimental chambers that warm air over tundra vegetation. Credit and Larger Version

September 15, 2015

Rapid changes are happening in the Arctic: ice cover is shrinking, permafrost is thawing. But what's happening to ground-dwelling species such as mosses?

Mosses are critical parts of nutrient cycles in the far north, scientists say. For example, microbes that live on mosses are the major source of nitrogen for plant growth in boreal and tundra ecosystems. Yet many aspects of these plant communities are poorly understood.

Through a new National Science Foundation (NSF) Dimensions of Biodiversity grant, Stuart McDaniel of the University of Florida and colleagues will use moss-microbe interactions to understand how biodiversity shapes high-latitude ecosystems.

The project is one of 10 funded this year through NSF's Dimensions of Biodiversity Program.

A total of $23 million has been invested in the grants, with contributions from NSF's directorates for Biological Sciences and Geosciences, as well as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Sao Paulo Research Foundation of Brazil (FAPESP).

The Dimensions of Biodiversity Program is unique in its approach. In contrast to traditional biodiversity research that focuses on one taxonomic group or ecosystem, Dimensions of Biodiversity integrates multiple areas of study into research projects.

The program links functional, genetic and phylogenetic/taxonomic dimensions of biodiversity, offering opportunities to produce rapid advances in understanding the creation, maintenance and loss of biodiversity.

"This year's Dimensions of Biodiversity investigators join an international and multidisciplinary network of scientists who, through cutting-edge and integrative approaches, are transforming our understanding of biodiversity," says James Olds, assistant director for NSF's Biological Sciences directorate.

The research will fill in gaps in biodiversity knowledge, scientists say. It also has the potential to lead to significant progress in agriculture, fuel, manufacturing and health.

For example, plant and animal extinctions are detrimental to human health, scientists have found. Species losses in ecosystems such as forests and fields result in increases in pathogens, or disease-causing organisms. The species most likely to disappear as biodiversity declines are often those that buffer infectious disease transmission. Those that remain tend to be ones that magnify diseases such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease.

Economic sustainability also depends on the diversity of life on Earth. Many industrial materials, such as fibers and dyes, come from biological sources. In addition, biodiversity is important to such resources as water, food and pharmaceuticals.

To conserve Earth's biodiversity, scientists funded through the Dimensions of Biodiversity program are working to better understand interactions among species from microbes to mosses, lichens and marine life.

"Understanding the diversity of life on land and in the sea is critical as our environment changes," says Roger Wakimoto, assistant director for NSF's Geosciences directorate. "This year's Dimensions of Biodiversity projects include important but poorly known branches of animals and microorganisms in understudied regions of the oceans."

The new Dimensions of Biodiversity projects focus on topics including: the diversity of ctenophores, or comb jellies, in the deep sea; lichens in a global diversity hotspot; microbial communities living on suspended and sinking particles in marine oxygen-deficient zones; moss microbiomes in rapidly changing Alaskan ecosystems; and pollination in Penstemon, or beardtongues, a large genus of North American and East Asian flowering plants.

2015 Dimensions of Biodiversity Awards

Martha Condon, Cornell College:
Dimensions: Collaborative Research: Diversification Dynamics of Multitrophic Interactions in Tropical Communities
Peter Girguis, Harvard University:
Dimensions: The phylogenetic and functional diversity of extracellular electron transfer across all three domains of life
Steven Haddock, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute:
 Dimensions: Life at extremes: Linking the phylogenetic and genomic diversity of ctenophores to ecophysiological adaptations in the deep sea
Lena Hileman, University of Kansas:
Dimensions: The evolution of pollination syndrome diversity in Penstemon
James Lendemer, New York Botanical Garden:
 Dimensions: Biodiversity Gradients in Obligate Symbiotic Organisms: A Case Study in Lichens in a Global Diversity Hotspot
Stuart McDaniel, University of Florida:
Dimensions: Collaborative Research: Community genomic drivers of moss microbiome assembly and function in rapidly changing Alaskan ecosystems
Matthew Olson, Texas Tech University:
Dimensions US-China: Allosomes and dioecy in plants as drivers of multi-level biodiversity
Tammi Richardson, University of South Carolina:
 Dimensions: Links Between Spectral Irradiance and Cryptophyte Biodiversity in Environments from Ponds to Oceans
Gabrielle Rocap, University of Washington:
 Dimensions: Diversity, assembly and function of microbial communities on suspended and sinking particles in a marine Oxygen Deficient Zone
Brett Tyler, Oregon State University:
Dimensions: Dynamical interactions between plant and oomycete biodiversity in a temperate forest

-NSF-

Media Contacts Cheryl Dybas, NSF, (703) 292-7734, cdybas@nsf.gov

Related WebsitesNSF News (2014 awards): Whither the diversity of life on Earth? NSF, partners award $23 million for studies of planet's biodiversity:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=132506
NSF News (2013 awards):
In race against time, NSF grants fund research on Earth's threatened biodiversity: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129242
NSF News (2012 awards):
 Stemming the Tide of Biodiversity Loss on Earth:
 http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=125495&org=NSF&from=news
NSF Discovery: Staple of recipe favorites--the tomato--reveals processes that maintain biodiversity: http://nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129676
NSF Discovery: A Stream Is a Stream Is a Stream: Or Is It?: http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=123855&org=NSF

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2015, its budget is $7.3 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 48,000 competitive proposals for funding, and makes about 11,000 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $626 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

 Get News Updates by Email 
Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: http://www.nsf.gov
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This deep-sea ctenophore, or comb jelly, shows the dark red color typical of deep-sea species.
Credit and Larger Version

This ecologically important lichen is indicative of high-quality habitats in eastern North America.
Credit and Larger Version

A parasitic wasp stands on a plant with the common name rainforest cucumber (Gurania costaricensis).
Credit and Larger Version

The Wind River Forest Dynamics Plot in Oregon is a Dimensions of Biodiversity research site.
Credit and Larger Version

The beardtongue plant's red flowers attract hummingbirds.
Credit and Larger Version
The National Science Foundation (NSF)
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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NASA : Operation IceBridge Debuts Its Seventh Arctic Campaign .- Operación IceBridge estrena su séptima campaña al Ártico

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., hemos recibido información de la Agencia Espacial NASA en sus investigaciones del Ártico, que lleva a cabo con su nave: NASA's Operation IceBridge, cuyo avión NASA's C-130 aircraft: Ha desarrollado la  Operación IceBridge de la NASA, un estudio aéreo de los hielos polares, completó con éxito su primer vuelo de investigación de Groenlandia  19 de marzo de 2015,  lanzando así su séptima campaña del Ártico. Vuelos de ciencias de este año más de marino en el Ártico y el hielo terrestre continuarán hasta el 22 de mayo

NASA's Operation IceBridge, an airborne survey of polar ice, successfully completed its first Greenland research flight of 2015 on March 19, thus launching its seventh Arctic campaign. This year’s science flights over Arctic sea and land ice will continue until May 22.

 

NASA's C-130 aircraft getting readied for pressurization tests on March16, 2015 at Wallops Flight Facility, during preparation for the Arctic 2015 Operation IceBridge field campaign. The mission¹s usual research aircraft in the Arctic, a P-3, is currently getting new wings.

Image Credit: 

NASA/Jefferson Beck

The mission of Operation IceBridge is to collect data on changing polar land and sea ice and maintain continuity of measurements between NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) missions. The original ICESat mission ended in 2009, and its successor, ICESat-2, is scheduled for launch in 2017. Operation IceBridge, which began in in 2009, is currently funded until 2019. The planned two-year overlap with ICESat-2 will help scientists validate the satellite’s measurements.

The extensive data IceBridge has gathered over the Greenland ice sheet during its six years of operations have provided an improved picture of the surface, the bed and the internal structures of Greenland’s ice sheet and allowed scientists to create more accurate models of glacier contribution to sea level rise. As for sea ice, IceBridge’s measurements of the thickness of sea ice and its snow cover have assisted in improving forecasts for summertime melt, enhanced the understanding of variations in ice thickness distribution from year to year, and updated the climatology of the snow depth over sea ice.

The first part of the Arctic campaign, based in the Thule Air Base in northern Greenland and including a short deployment to Fairbanks, Alaska, will focus on the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland and in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas north of Alaska.

“As far as the sea ice flight lines go in the Arctic this year, the new thing is that we’re not changing things this year,” said Jackie Richter-Menge, IceBridge science team co-lead and sea ice researcher with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, N.H. “We’ve achieved a pattern of survey flights that is doing its job: it provides good insight into what the thickness distribution of the Arctic cover looks like in the Western Arctic, late in the winter season. This coverage is good both for modelers that are looking to do a prediction of the seasonal extent of the ice cover through the following summer and it also pays a nice complement to the satellite coverage that we’re getting from ESA’s [European Space Agency] CryoSat-2 satellite.”

This year, one of IceBridge’s radar instruments, the Multi-Channel Coherent Radar Depth Sounder (MCoRDS), which is operated by the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, will try for the first time to take direct measurements of sea ice thickness. Thickness is a key indicator of Arctic sea ice’s likelihood to survive the summer melt season, but remote measurements of this characteristic are largely indirect.

“It would really be a wonderful thing to get direct measurements of sea ice thickness because what we have now is an inferred measurement based on how much sea ice is floating above open water”, Richter-Menge said. “Direct measurements would increase the level of certainty in the data.”

Youtube Override: 

NASA’s Operation IceBridge is back in the field, with a twist. Instead of using the P-3 or DC-8 aircraft from previous campaigns, they’ve outfitted a C-130 cargo plane for the trip. Science flights begin this week as the mission studies Arctic sea ice, ice caps, glaciers, and the Greenland Ice Sheet

Image Credit: 

NASA/Goddard

Feature Link: 

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The second part of the Operation IceBridge’s 2015 Arctic campaign will be based in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, and it will focus on surveying ice surface elevation and thickness at several rapidly changing points of the Greenland ice sheet. Afterward, the team will return to Thule for the last phase of the field campaign.

 

This year, four areas have been added to the list of Operation IceBridge’s high priority missions. Among these are the Zachariae Isstrom glacier in northeast Greenland and its neighbor to the north, the 79 N or Nioghalvfjerdsbrae glacier. Both of these rivers of ice have rapidly increased the rates in which they drain land ice to the ocean in the past years.

“That part of Greenland is changing very rapidly and corresponds to a basin below sea level pretty far inland,” said Eric Rignot, IceBridge science team co-lead and glaciologist at the University of California, Irvine and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. “It’s a sector that we’re paying close attention to because it has the potential to change rapidly and it could have a significant implication for sea level rise in the coming decades.”

 

“As we do every year, we are sampling the four corners of Greenland and the interior regions to complete a rather extensive survey of the ice sheet,” Rignot said. “Recent results have shown that this type of survey is good enough to keep track of the total mass loss of the ice sheet from year to year, and also to get details on glaciers that are key players in driving the mass loss to higher values every year.”

Operation IceBridge is using a different research aircraft this year, an adapted C-130 Hercules former military plane. The mission’s usual ride in the Arctic, a P-3, is getting new wings. Despite both planes having similar sizes and capabilities, mounting IceBridge’s array of lasers and radars on an unfamiliar fuselage doesn’t come without challenges.

“Any time we install our very extensive suite of sensors, they have to be integrated in the aircraft, which means mechanically mounted in good, stiff mounts, and the radar antennas have to be embedded within the fuselage so that they function adequately without requiring time-consuming aerodynamic modifications to the aircraft,” said John Sonntag, Operation IceBridge’s Field Team Lead. “It takes a lot of time and mechanical work to get the sensors mounted on the aircraft and to get the electrical interfaces with the crew and the cockpit”.

As in previous years, Operation IceBridge will be collaborating with several international research initiatives. In Barrow, Alaska, the C-130 will overfly a sea ice experiment by the Naval Research Laboratory. In a remote outpost in the northeastern Greenland coast, IceBridge will take measurements overlapping those taken from the ground by researchers from the University of Manitoba, Canada. And, weather permitting, NASA’s airborne polar laboratory will fly over a drifting sea ice station in the Fram Strait, a passage between Greenland and Svalbard that is the primary region of sea ice export from the Arctic.

“The purpose of our cooperations with other research groups is to understand our own instruments better by comparison to the measurements they’re collecting on the ground, primarily snow depth and sea ice thickness,” Sonntag said. “ We use their detailed measurements collected on the ground to better understand the geographically much wider, but in some cases less detailed measurements we take from the air.”

 

The IceBridge project science office is based at Goddard. The C-130 research aircraft is based at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. For more about Operation IceBridge and to follow this year's campaign, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/icebridge

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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NASA - P-3B Starts the Day

 

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P-3B Starts the Day

On March 21, 2013,  Arctic waits outside the hangar at Thule Air Base with the Greenland Ice sheet in the background.

IceBridge, a six-year NASA mission, is the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown. It will yield an unprecedented three-dimensional view of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, ice shelves and sea ice. These flights will provide a yearly, multi-instrument look at the behavior of the rapidly changing features of the Greenland and Antarctic ice.

Data collected during IceBridge will help scientists bridge the gap in polar observations between  Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) -- in orbit since 2003 -- and ICESat-2, planned for early 2016. ICESat stopped collecting science data in 2009, making IceBridge critical for ensuring a continuous series of observations.

IceBridge will use airborne instruments to map Arctic and Antarctic areas once a year. IceBridge flights are conducted in March-May over Greenland and in October-November over Antarctica. Other smaller airborne surveys around the world are also part of the IceBridge campaign.

Image Credit: NASA/Goddard/Michael Studinger

 NASA

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The Earth: The Contribution of Space Technologies to Arctic Policy Priorities

Hi My Friends: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., Polar View (Norway) has carried out this GSP study comparing the needs of Arctic stakeholders (as articulated in policies and strategies) with the contribution different types of satellite technologies can make to meet current and future requirements.

 Ship Arctic.

Polar View (Norway) has carried out this GSP study comparing the needs of Arctic stakeholders (as articulated in policies and strategies) with the contribution different types of satellite technologies can make to meet current and future requirements.

The Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the planet, and as a result, sea ice is receding opening northern sea routes. This will increase the level of commercial shipping and give an easier access to the resource wealth of the region (hydrocarbons, minerals, and fish). The detrimental effect on land and marine wildlife will be increased by pollution caused by the increasing of the commercial activities.

With the economic gain comes the desire to protect rights and investments, and the resulting potential for conflict. All of this is at odds with the traditional livelihoods of the Arctic’s indigenous peoples.

So far, there has been a remarkable spirit of cooperation among Arctic stakeholders as they recognize the common problems and needs that they all face.

Arctic States and some non-Arctic ones manifested interest in policies across all areas: safety, the environment, sustainable economic development, sovereignty, and indigenous and social development. Of particular relevance in this study is the European Union that has had a northern policy since 1999 and will be issuing a revision in 2012.  

The Arctic is a challenging region: distances are vast, the weather is difficult, and for much of the year it is dark. Although increasing, Arctic populations are small. Space technologies have many attributes that make them ideal for application in the Arctic context: satellites can see remote areas that could not be accessed in any other way, they can cover wide areas with relatively little infrastructure and they can provide types of information that are not available from any other source.

Space technologies can contribute to Arctic policy priorities in many ways:

• Communications satellites can bring communities across the Arctic and around the world closer together, help bring education and health to isolated people, support the extraction and transportation of natural resources, and facilitate the provision of aid to people in distress.
• Earth Observation satellites can help vessels navigate through and around ice and icebergs, monitor pollution and environmental change, locate natural resources, and assist authorities in protecting national borders.
• Navigation satellites can help vessels, aircraft, and vehicles navigate more safely and efficiently, provide position information to assist in mapping and surveying in regions that frequently have poor charts available, and aid in locating and tracking vessels and people in distress.
• Surveillance satellites can help authorities locate vessels and people in distress, identify illegal activities that endanger ecosystems and resources, and help aircraft and ships avoid collisions.
• Science satellites can help protect electricity transmission lines and pipelines from harmful solar storms, provide information that will assist in the delineation of national boundaries, and help to monitor the progress climate change.

The report shows convergence of policies among states, as well as with capabilities of satellites systems. Space technologies have been contributing to Arctic policy priorities for quite some time. However, these assets will need to be renewed and enhanced if the increasing future challenges of the Arctic are to be met.
 

Polar View is the Arctic and Antarctic component of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Service Element (GSE) initiative of the European Space Agency and the European Union. It is a collaborative project involving about 20 partners, including research institutes, government agencies and private sector technology, environmental and engineering firms.
 

For further information please contact:

Jérôme Béquignon
Study Technical Officer
European Space Agency - Brussels office (EOP-CC)
T: +32 2743 3093
Jerome.Bequignon @ esa.int

Isabelle Duvaux-Bechon
Head of Future Preparation and Strategic Studies Office (PPC-PF)
T: +33 (0)1 5369 7294
Isabelle.Duvaux-Bechon @ esa.int

ESA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com 

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The Earth: Blue Marble 2012 - Arctic View

Hi My Friends: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., A 'Blue Marble' image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012.

The Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite or VIIRS is the primary imaging instrument onboard NPP, and it acquires data in 22 spectral bands covering visible, near-infrared, and thermal infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Behind the Scenes

NASA scientist Norman Kuring managed to 'step back' from Earth to get the big picture by combining data from six different orbits of the Suomi NPP satellite. Or putting it a different way, the satellite flew above this area of Earth six times over an eight hour time period. Norman took those six sets of data and combined them into one image. + view full feature

Western Hemisphere  : The Suomi NPP Blue Marble,  + web view | + hi-res image
Credit:NASA/NOAA

 Eastern Hemisphere: The Suomi NPP Blue Marble, + web view | + hi-res image
Credit:NASA/NOAA

 Australia.- The Suomi NPP Blue Marble,  + web view | + hi-res image
Credit:NASA/NOAA

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Blue Marble 2012 - Arctic View

Fifteen orbits of the recently launched Suomi NPP satellite provided the VIIRS instrument enough time (and longitude) to gather the pixels for this synthesized view of Earth showing the Arctic, Europe, and Asia.

Suomi NPP orbits the Earth about 14 times each day and observes nearly the entire surface. The NPP satellite continues key data records that are critical for climate change science.

Image Credit: NASA/GSFC

NASA
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The Earth:CryoSat goes to sea

Hi My Friends: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., CryoSat was launched in 2010 to measure sea-ice thickness in the Arctic, but data from the Earth-observing satellite have also been exploited for other studies. High-resolution mapping of the topography of the ocean floor is now being added to the ice mission’s repertoire.

 An Earth-orbiting radar cannot see the ocean floor, but it can measure ocean-surface height variations induced by the topography of the ocean floor. The gravitational pull of the seafloor produces minor variations in ocean surface height. Seafloor mapping by ships is much more accurate than radar altimeter mapping, but to date only 10% of the seafloor has been charted this way. A complete mapping of the deep oceans using ships would take 200 ships navigating Earth, 24 hours a day, for an entire year at a cost of billions of dollars. Mapping using satellite radars can cover a larger area in a shorter amount of time. When interesting features are discovered in satellite measurements, they can later be surveyed in fine detail by ships.

Credits: Scripps Institution of Oceanography

 Gravity field over the Pacific Ocean’s Emperor Seamounts based on CryoSat, ERS and Geosat satellite altimeter measurements of ocean-surface height. At this scale, the gravity field of the ocean reflects seafloor topography, called bathymetry. The improved radar measurements from CryoSat will be used to improve bathymetry. The measurements will be used in the next generation of the seafloor maps in Google Earth.

Credits: Scripps Institution of Oceanography/NOAA

CryoSat was launched in 2010 to measure sea-ice thickness in the Arctic, but data from the Earth-observing satellite have also been exploited for other studies. High-resolution mapping of the topography of the ocean floor is now being added to the ice mission’s repertoire.
  The main objective of the polar-orbiting CryoSat is to measure the thickness of polar sea ice and monitor changes in the ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica.

But the satellite’s radar altimeter is not only able to detect tiny variations in the height of the ice but it can also measure sea level.

The topography of the ocean surface mimics the rises and dips of the ocean floor due to the gravitational pull. Areas of greater mass, such as underwater mountains, have a stronger pull, attracting more water and producing a minor increase in ocean-surface height.

Therefore, instruments that measure sea-surface height incidentally map the ocean floor in previously uncharted areas. 

There have been several recent global gravity missions, such as ESA’s GOCE satellite, that provide extraordinarily accurate measurements of gravity at the spatial resolution of hundreds of kilometres.

But CryoSat’s radar altimeter can sense the gravity field at the ocean surface, so that seafloor characteristics at scales of 5–10 km are revealed. This is the first altimeter in 15 years to map the global marine gravity field at such a high spatial resolution.

Recent studies at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, USA, found that the range precision of CryoSat is at least 1.4 times better than the US's Geosat or ESA's ERS-1.

They estimate that this improved range precision combined with three or more years of ocean mapping will result in global seafloor topography – bathymetry – that is 2–4 times more accurate than measurements currently available

“We know more about the surfaces of Venus and Mars than we do about the bathymetry of deep oceans,” said David Sandwell from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the US.

“This new mapping from CryoSat will revolutionise our understanding of ocean floor tectonics and reveal, perhaps, 10 000 previously uncharted undersea volcanoes.”

Most satellite radar altimeters such as the one on the joint CNES/NASA/Eumetsat/NOAA Jason-2 follow repeated ground-tracks every 10 days to monitor the changes in ocean topography associated with ocean currents and tides.

CryoSat’s 369-day repeat cycle provides a dense mapping of the global ocean surface at a track spacing of over 4 km. Three to four years of data from CryoSat can be averaged to reduce the ‘noise’ due to currents and tides and better chart the permanent topography related to marine gravity.

ESA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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