ESA - CryoSat - CryoSat: an icy mission

CryoSat at a glance

An Earth Explorer

CryoSat: an icy mission

Earth’s changing ice Facts and figures

About the satellite

Platform Instruments

About the launch

Launch site Launcher After launch

Meet the team

Richard Francis - Project Manager Tommaso Parrinello - Mission Manager Duncan Wingham, Lead Investigator Klaus Köble, EADS Astrium Project Manager Mark Drinkwater, Mission Scientist Bill Simpson, Launch Campaign Manager Nic Mardle, Spacecraft Operations Manager Laurent Rey, Thales Alenia Space SIRAL Project Manager Malcolm Davidson, Validation Manager

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CryoSat: an icy mission

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CryoSat determines variations in the thickness of floating sea-ice so that seasonal and interannual variations can be detected. The satellite also surveys the surface of continental ice sheets to detect small elevation changes. Information on precise variations in ice thickness will further our understanding of the relationship between ice and climate change.

Credits: ESA /AOES Medialab

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Radar image showing the tip of Ellesmere Island (left) in the Canadian Arctic and northwestern Greenland (right). The light area to the right is the ice-covered surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet, while the darker stream extending across the lower centre of the image is the northern hemisphere’s longest floating glacier, Petermann. The image was made from Envisat's Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) data acquired in 2008.

Credits: ESA

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Earth Explorers overview Envisat