A Slice of Ice

NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, launched in September, 2018, and is already exceeding scientists’ expectations. The satellite uses laser beams to measure the height of sea ice to within an inch, tracing the terrain of previously unmapped Antarctic valleys, surveying remote ice sheets, and peering through forest canopies and shallow coastal waters. Researchers are ready to use the information to study sea level rise resulting from melting ice sheets and glaciers, and to improve sea ice and climate forecasts. The first months of ICESat-2 data collected over Arctic and Antarctic sea ice reveal thin ice, thick ice, and features such as ice ridges. Areas of open water in the cracks between the ice floes, called leads, stand out in the data because of the difference in reflectivity between ice and water. By comparing the height of that water surface in the leads with the height of the ice, scientists estimate the ice's height above the water and thickness. With the high precision of ICESat-2, researchers will have an unprecedented understanding of the thickness of sea ice, which will be used to help improve climate modeling and forecasts. Explore the images to see scientists' newest views of Earth's height.

See NASA.gov