ESACryoSatObserving the EarthLiving Planet
   
CryoSat at a glance
An Earth ExplorerCryoSat: an icy missionEarth’s changing iceFacts and figures
About the satellite
About the launch
Meet the team
Multimedia
Image GalleryAnimationsVideosOnline documents
Services
 
 
 
Bookmark and Share
 
 
 
 
Article Images
Norway acknowledges CryoSat as essential to help quantify our changing climate
 
18 October 2004



Credits: Bjerknes Centre for Climate Rearch, Norway
 
 
In this doucment, published in 1904, Vilhelm Bjerknes first proposed the procedure now known as numerical weather forecasting.
 
 
Record summer minimum sea-ice extent in the Arctic (courtesy NSIDC), shown in white for September 2004. The pink line indicates the typical September monthly median ice extent, based on satellite records that began in the 1970’s.

Credits: NSIDC
 
 
CryoSat
Download:
 HI-RES JPEG (Size: 236 kb)
Artist's impression of CryoSat in orbit over southern Greenland ice sheet.

The launch of the CryoSat spacecraft was unfortunately aborted on 8 October 2005 due to a malfunction of its Rockot launcher, which resulted in the total loss of the spacecraft.

At the latest meeting of the European Space Agency's Earth Observation Programme Board, which took place at ESA’s Headquarters in Paris on 23 and 24 February 2006, ESA received the green light from its Member States to build and launch a CryoSat recovery mission, CryoSat-2.

Credits: ESA/AOES Medialab

 


Related articles
Primary instrument is delivered for ESA's CryoSat missionScientists confront the challenges of the Arctic in support of ESA's ice mission
Related links
Bjerknes Centenary 2004Bjerknes Centre for Climate ResearchLiving PlanetEarth ExplorersCryoSat-2
 
 
 
   Copyright 2000 - 2012 © European Space Agency. All rights reserved.