Accurate measurements of the sea ice area and thickness with the aid of ranging data provided by missions such as CryoSat-2 are crucial for the understanding of the transformations occurring in the Arctic, in light of observed changes in seasonality, increase of winter air temperatures and delays in freeze-up. An important factor in the calculation …
Scientists have developed a novel approach of using CryoSat to generate a unique time series of ice front positions for the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf – the second largest ice shelf in Antarctica. Applying a new method, called ‘elevation edge’, to CryoSat’s data has revealed that the entire Filchner-Ronne ice shelf advanced by more than 800 …
The Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE), an international team of 89 polar scientists led by Andrew Shepherd from the University of Leeds and Erik Ivins at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, compared and combined data from 11 satellites – including ESA’s ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat and CryoSat missions, as well as the EU’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 …
Despite considerable research progress in understanding the polar region over the last decades, many gaps remain in observational capabilities and scientific knowledge. These gaps limit present ability to understand and interpret on-going processes, prediction capabilities and forecasting in the Arctic region, thereby hampering evidence-based decision-making. Addressing these gaps represents a key priority in order to …
Polar regions are undergoing major and drastic changes with significant impact at global scale. Addressing this unique set of global challenges will require more than ever that scientists advance their understanding of the different drivers governing changes in Polar regions, its associated processes and its potential impacts and translate that knowledge into solutions for society, …
The recent IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere highlights how we all depend on oceans and ice, and how they are intrinsic to the health of our planet – but stresses the many ways in which they are being altered by climate change. Read the full article
Thie MOOC aims to provide an introduction to the latest EO methods and the next generation of satellite platforms to monitoring the dynamic behaviour of the Earth’s cryosphere.
The multi-disciplinary, long-term, satellite-based Earth Observations (EO) form a tremendous synergy of data and information products that should to be more systematically and consistently explored, from the short synoptic time scales to the longer decadal time scales. This lays the rationale for the ESA funded Arktalas Hoavva study project. A stepwise multi-modal analyses framework approach …
Ice sheets are a key component of the Earth system, impacting on global sea level, ocean circulation and bio-geochemical processes. Significant quantities of liquid water are being produced and transported at the ice sheet surface, base, and beneath its floating sections, and this water is in turn interacting with the ice sheet itself. Surface meltwater …
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average, with consequences felt across the whole planet. A better scientific understanding of the complexities of the fragile Arctic environment is critical for policy decisions on climate-change mitigation and adaptation, and for setting up a framework for managing Arctic development sustainably. The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory …
