NOTE: The image below is NOT sea ice thickness, but ocean topography.
Radar data from the European satellite has been used to make a map of ocean circulation across the Arctic basin.
Cryosat’s primary mission is to measure sea-ice thickness, which has been in sharp decline in recent decades.
But its ability also to map the shape of the sea surface will tell scientists if Arctic currents are changing as a result of winds being allowed to blow more easily on ice-free waters.
“Nobody really knows how the Arctic is going to behave as the ice retreats, but we do anticipate that significant changes will occur,” said Dr Seymour Laxon, a Cryosat science team member from University College London, UK.
“This is just the first data, and it shows we now have the tool to monitor what is happening,” he told BBC News.
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[Cryosat] carries one of the highest resolution synthetic aperture radars ever put in orbit.
The instrument sends down pulses of microwave energy which bounce off both the top of the Arctic sea-ice and the water in the cracks, or leads, which separate the floes.
By measuring the difference in height between these two surfaces, scientists will be able, using a relatively simple calculation, to work out the overall volume of the marine ice cover in the far north.
WUWT carried the story of the Cryosat launch and testing in several articles:
CryoSat-2 exceeding expectations
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 … Continue reading →
CryoSat passes first operational tests
From the European Space Agency, it looks like CryoSat-2 is working well. I’m sure we are all looking forward to seeing what the results are. ESA’s ice mission delivers first data 13 April 2010 ESA’s CryoSat-2 has delivered its first … Continue reading →
Successful launch for ESA’s CryoSat-2 ice satellite From the European Space Agency: 8 April 2010 ESA PR 07-2010. Europe’s first mission dedicated to studying the Earth’s ice was launched today from Kazakhstan. From its polar orbit, CryoSat-2 will send back … Continue reading →
Full story about the current data from BBC here
3×2 says:
December 23, 2010 at 10:43 am
Not sure it will turn out to be that simple. When those “flat” idealised sheets get crushed up by wind and currents they will tend to become mounds. If the dominant winds force the ice toward a shore then vast areas will mound up giving a false impression of ice depth.
No they still give a true indication of depth because for every meter above the water surface there will be ~9 below.
Phil;
You still must be able to SEE the nearby water. If the ice coverage is solid and continuous, you lose your reference point. As the gravity map shows, the sea is not flat.