The launch of the CryoSat spacecraft unfortunately failed on 8 October 2005 due to a malfunction of its Rockot launcher, which resulted in the loss of the spacecraft. In 2006, ESA received the approval build and launch a CryoSat recovery mission, CryoSat-2.


 
To mark the International Polar Year, Alain Hubert and Dixie Dansercoer are attempting to cross the Arctic from Siberia to southern Greenland – a route never before attempted. Throughout their four-month journey they are taking snow-depth measurements in support of ESA's CryoSat-2 mission.


 
The Hagen ground measurements team, led by Jon Ove Hagen, just before their helicopter airlift from Longyearbyen to the Austfonna ice cap.


 
The archipelago of Svalbard, which is about 10 degrees from the North Pole and about 90 minutes by plane from the northern tip of Norway, is one of the main CryoSat-2 validation test areas. The main site is the large Austfonna ice cap at the east of the archipelago where the CryoVex 2007 campaign is taking place.


 
A photo of the Dornier 228 D-CODE in flight. The rectangle antenna structure of the ASIRAS is visible on the tail of the aircraft. ASIRAS is the airborne version of the radar altimeter instrument carried on CryoSat-2. The aircraft, along with ASIRAS and a laser scanner form the basis for the CryoSat-2 validation activities.


 
The image illustrates the airborne ASIRAS data that is being collected over the Austfonna ice cap during the campaign as the aircraft crosses over the summit of the ice cap. The surface contour of the ice sheet is clearly visible and the colours represent the power of the echoes that were scattered from the ground back to the aircraft and the instrument.



Release date: 15 January 2009