ESA - CryoSat - The instruments

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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The instruments

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CryoSat measures the freeboard of floating sea ice.

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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.

Credits: ESA /AOES Medialab

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Phase difference between returning radar waves

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From the phase difference between the returning radar waves measured by two antennas it is possible to determine the path length difference - shown in red. Knowing the separation between the antennas, the angle between the arriving radar wave and the antennas can be calculated.

Credits: ESA

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CryoSat’s primary payload is the Synthetic Aperture Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL), designed to meet the scientific community’s measurement requirements for ice-sheet elevation and sea-ice freeboard.

Credits: ESA/P. Carril