Feb 1, 2011 15:55 GMT  ·  By
CryoSat is able to measure the freeboard (the height protruding above the water) of floating sea ice with its sensitive altimeter. From the freeboard, the ice thickness can be estimated
   CryoSat is able to measure the freeboard (the height protruding above the water) of floating sea ice with its sensitive altimeter. From the freeboard, the ice thickness can be estimated

Understanding the complex relationships that develop between the world's ice cover and the overall climate has been a goal in science for many years, and the CryoSat mission is a part of the efforts to clear up this mystery. The data the satellite produces have just been made available for all.

The European Space Agency (ESA) decided that it was in everyone's best interest if experts in the international scientific community had direct access to all relevant data the spacecraft produced.

As one of the latest Earth-observing satellites launched, CryoSat features an extremely sensitive suite of scientific instruments, which are tremendously effective at assessing a variety of parameter associated with the evolution of ice sheets.

The instruments onboard are capable of recording variation in ice thickness of just a few centimeters, ESA experts say. This may help experts gain more insight into how global warming changes the ices.

“As of today, the international science community will have free and easy access to all of the measurements from CryoSat,” announces the ESA CryoSat mission manager, Tommaso Parrinello.

“This will amount to a unique dataset to determine the impact climate change is having on Earth's ice fields,” he goes on to say. The official adds that the international community has been waiting for a spacecraft such as CryoSat for a long time.

The original satellite was lost during a 2005 launch malfunction, and then ice experts had to wait a few extra years until the new instrument was sent to orbit. They finally have access to the much-anticipated data now.

“We are pleased to announce this important milestone, which comes only few weeks after the end of the commissioning phase, Parrinello adds. He reminds that CryoSat was only launched in April 2010.

“We already know that the hardware is providing extremely accurate results; now we can start to see that translate into real scientific achievements,” professor Duncan Wingham explains of the rationale governing the new decision.

The expert, who holds an appointment at the University College London, adds that “it’s great to see the data go out on general release, and it is a measure of the efforts from the ESA team that this has been achieved so soon after launch.”

Mission monitoring, operations and control is exerted from the Flight Operations Segment at the ESA European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.

One of the most important things experts expect to make sense of by using CryoSat is how our planet functions as a system. This can lead to a better understanding of climate change, and may help create more accurate predictions.

The main mission the satellite has is to measure with extreme accuracy the evolution of Earth's polar caps. These measurements are of vital importance for informing policymakers in their initiatives to mitigate global warming and climate change.

The spacecraft is capable of taking centimeter-resolution readings of the ices, showing when and where it is melting, and where it's growing. It will remain airborne for around three years, and perhaps even more after that.

The satellite, which is one of the most sensitive ever launched, took off aboard a Dnepr rocket on April 8, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. The Russian-Ukrainian delivery system roared into space at 15:57 CEST (13:57 UTC), inserting Cryosat-2 into a 447-mile (720-kilometer) near-polar orbit.