From the European Space Agency
070110
Participants at the Living Planet Symposium have been hearing about ESA’s most recently launched mission, CryoSat-2. In orbit for almost three months, the satellite is in excellent health with scientists very encouraged by the first ice-thickness data presented at the symposium.
Prof. Duncan Wingham, Lead Investigator for the CryoSat mission, stated, “The satellite is in very good shape – exceeding in-orbit specifications, the ground segment software is fine, the system of data distribution looks good and we are excited by the quality of data being received.
“It is extremely rewarding to see the theoretical idea we had for an ice mission 10 years ago now coming to fruition.”
CryoSat-2 was launched last April, so the satellite and instruments are still being commissioned, a process that will continue until the autumn. Nevertheless, scientists and users are very excited by the first data, which already show the fine detail of the ice surface.
These data also demonstrate the added coverage that CryoSat-2 delivers. The satellite’s orbit brings it closer to the poles than earlier observation satellites, covering an additional 4.6 million sq km – an area larger than all 27 European Union member states put together.
CryoSat is Europe’s first mission dedicated to monitoring Earth’s ice fields. The satellite carries the first radar altimeter of its kind to overcome the difficulties of measuring icy surfaces.
Its primary payload, the sophisticated SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL), can measure the thickness of sea ice down to centimetres and monitor changes in the ice sheets on land, particularly around the edges where icebergs are calved from the vast ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica.
Together with information on ice extent, these measurements will show how the volume of Earth’s ice is changing and lead to a better understanding of the relationship between ice and climate change.
“We have had some hiccups with the science data processor – after all, a radar like this has never flown in space before. But we’ve shaken most of these out now and the results are looking very good,” said CryoSat-2 Project Manager Richard Francis.
“In particular the resolution of this system is amazing. We can see lots of detail in this track over part of Antarctica, made on the day the SIRAL instrument was first switched on.”
It was also announced today that orbit data from the Doppler Orbit and Radio Positioning Integration by Satellite (DORIS) radio receiver will be released in early July.
DORIS is a tracking system carried by CryoSat-2 to detect and measure the Doppler shift on signals broadcast from a network of radio beacons around the world. These signals are used for orbit determination, down to millimetre level and essential for accurately measuring the height of the ice surface.
Since the data from DORIS have been validated and shown to be excellent, they are being released to the community before the end of commissioning.
Now half-way through commissioning, CryoSat-2 is clearly well on track to delivering the precise data on ice-thickness change that are much-needed to provide a better insight into what is happening to Earth’s ice cover as a result of climate change.
kramer says:
July 6, 2010 at 6:49 am
It “can measure the thickness of sea ice down to centimetres?”
I agree kramer. Here’s a simple hypothetical example. Lets see if they start reporting, instead of 11736984 km3, something like 11736983576782104579000 cm3 to the last cubic centimeter, that kind of precision is what that statement tends to imply without qualifications. It’s BS. They would have to bounce the radar and record every single square centimeter of Antarctica in one single pass for snow is always blowing from one place to another constantly. They can’t even measure snowfall at research stations with any accuracy due to that fact!
The 11736984 km3 is questionable in the first place and probably should have been properly reported something like 11737000 km3 to five decimal places or worse. That is one thing that is wrong with proper science today, honesty in reporting, they left out all of the factors that make that level of precision in bulk a figment of someone’s imagination. And, when you take the actual average precision and cube it you will have something like 15-18 zeros in trailing portion of that number and it still then has error bars on top of that.
If the above is not true, I want someone to prove it to me, don’t forget the areal resolution, precision, and error bars on top of that vertical measurement above.
Also, will the raw data be available for viewing & analysing by the public or will we be stuck with the “adjusted, value-added products”?
Jeff
jcrabb says:
July 6, 2010 at 6:24 am
R.Gates
LOL, thanks for your piece on another thread about the Arctic Di-pole, I never heard of that before and ’tis incredible to think of a new atmospheric effect due to a massive manipulation of atmosphere chemistry…but maybe not.
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Here is a link to a significant bit of research done on the Arctic Dipole Anomaly:
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2008GL036706.shtml
And to quote the summary:
“Recent record lows of Arctic summer sea ice extent are found to be triggered by the Arctic atmospheric Dipole Anomaly (DA) pattern. This local, second–leading mode of sea–level pressure (SLP) anomaly in the Arctic produced a strong meridional wind anomaly that drove more sea ice out of the Arctic Ocean from the western to the eastern Arctic into the northern Atlantic during the summers of 1995, 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2007. In the 2007 summer, the DA also enhanced anomalous oceanic heat flux into the Arctic Ocean via Bering Strait, which accelerated bottom and lateral melting of sea ice and amplified the ice–albedo feedback. A coupled ice–ocean model was used to confirm the historical record lows of summer sea ice extent.”
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What I think is important to understand the with DA, is that wind & temperature are related with these phenomenon, and the entire system is self-reinforcing through positive feedback. Thus, when a skeptic says, “well, the sea ice loss in the Arctic in 2007 had nothing to do with temperature, it was all the wind…” You know right away they either they know nothing about the DA, or they simply don’t care to know.
I expect its first mission to be circling above some “collapsing Antarctic ice sheet” or that “dangerously warming” Antarctica´s tail.
Mike Davis says:
July 6, 2010 at 7:26 am
And 60 years from now they may have acquired enough information with this system to better understand what is happening. What we will end up with is comparing higher resolution data with decreasing resolutions from the last 30+ years of satellite data and all the ship observations. In other words we will have a newer version of fruit salad than what we now have for ice reference and historic temperature data.
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VILLABOLO:
I agree about the distinction between Hi Res and Low Res. However, with reference to the Arctic Ice Cap, it is not going to be around for 60 years. Perhaps, however, some Martians will be gracious and spread some dust in Earth’s orbit.
mariwarcwm says:
July 6, 2010 at 12:54 am
I’m pleased that the scientists have their toy.
Let’s hope politicians and the deluded masses everywhere will take note when it reports healthy ice cover.
trbixler says:
July 6, 2010 at 8:17 am
Wow
“Now half-way through commissioning, CryoSat-2 is clearly well on track to delivering the precise data on ice-thickness change that are much-needed to provide a better insight into what is happening to Earth’s ice cover as a result of climate change.”
They jump so quickly to the political when it seems they are at the threshold of developing a new data set. It seems the the excitement should be on the development and accuracy of the data set. Maybe even on how it will be made available and its archiving procedures.
But then new mission is really..
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/05/nasa-chief-frontier-better-relations-muslims/
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VILLABOLO:
The excitement IS about the technical abilities of the satellites. Merely focusing on one individual who, on a tangent, speaks about political ramifications, does not mean that your over generalization is justified.
By the way, why are you quoting a news agency like Fox with a record of fraudulent videos and grossly out of context quotes, along with phony renditions of opinion polls totalling 120%,?
I suggest you disconnect the television set. I haven’t watched TV in 10 years.
PS: I MADE AN ERROR IN MY POST TO MARIWARCWM. I DELETED MY RESPONSE BY MISTAKE.
“Hard not to approve of any sub-system called Doris (an old-fashioned English name suggesting dependability).”
Actually a Greek oceanid nymph and latterly a girls’ christian name much favoured at the turn of the last century. Oh! And it was my mother’s name! Yes I am that old unfortunately.
R. Gates says:
July 6, 2010 at 11:40 am
“What I think is important to understand the with DA, is that wind & temperature are related with these phenomenon, and the entire system is self-reinforcing through positive feedback. Thus, when a skeptic says, “well, the sea ice loss in the Arctic in 2007 had nothing to do with temperature, it was all the wind…” You know right away they either they know nothing about the DA, or they simply don’t care to know.”
What I think is important to understand is that when a warmer says the entire system is self-reinforcing through positive feedback you know right away that you have before you someone who is a candidate for buying that bridge……
Good news! It will be interesting to see if the CryoSat data confirms systems producing Arctic sea ice volumes, or if it’s back to the drawing board. A proper understanding of the amount of sea ice will prevent much idle speculation.
I agree this is great technology, but how many years of data is acceptable before any sort of conclusions about trends can be formed? Ten, thirty, fifty, a hundred, a thousand? My guess, about a year…..just think of Amazing GRACE. I hope DORIS gets a longer honeymoon.
Wouldn’t it have been great if this had been around in 2500 BC?
“The first people arrived in the northernmost part of Greenland in around 2500 BC, and in the course of a few hundred years the ice-free part of the island became home to an Arctic tribe of hunters known as the Palaeo-Eskimos. The warmer climate which appeared once the ice had gone allowed the population to increase rapidly. ”
“Towards the end of the 10th century the climate became warmer, and the change affected all those living in the northern hemisphere. Much of the ice in the seas around the Canadian archipelago disappeared, and baleen whales moved into the area to search for food. Eskimo whalers from northern Alaska sailed east in their large, skin-covered boats and reached Greenland in the 12th century.”
A History of the Greenland climate from the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
http://www.um.dk/Publikationer/UM/English/Denmark/kap7/7-1-19.asp#7-1-19
The second year, we will be hearing of “unprecedented” melting, certainly within 5 years.