ESA - CryoSat - Archive

ESA title

The mission

ESA’s Earth Explorer CryoSat mission is dedicated to measuring the thickness of polar sea ice and monitoring changes in the ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica. Its main payload is a SAR Interferometric Radar Altimeter, which is designed for ice, measuring changes at the margins of vast ice sheets and floating ice in polar oceans.

The launch

Date: 08 April 2010
Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Rocket: Russian/Ukrainian Dnepr based on SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile

1st altimeter of its kind
10+ yrs in orbit
719 km mean altitude
92° inclination

CryoSat

Bathymetry of Chukchi Cap

Expanding our knowledge of Arctic Ocean bathymetry

24/07/2019 5539 views 58 likes

Non-linear tides in the Barents Sea

Modelling tides in the Arctic Ocean

11/07/2019 4909 views 46 likes

Ice streams named

Antarctic glaciers named after satellites

07/06/2019 5303 views 60 likes

Antarctic ice loss 1992–2019

A quarter of glacier ice in West Antarctica is now unstable

16/05/2019 7981 views 114 likes

Jakobshavn Glacier

Jakobshavn Isbrae Glacier bucks the trend

14/05/2019 12426 views 118 likes

Cloud-free Europe

New observations for the new economy

08/03/2019 10718 views 89 likes

Losing ice

Greenland ice loss quickening

06/12/2018 8346 views 131 likes

Regional sea-level trends

Spotlight on sea-level rise

25/09/2018 16279 views 97 likes

Antarctica hikes up sea level

13/06/2018 10142 views 159 likes

Antarctica in 3D

New view of Antarctica in 3D

11/05/2018 24897 views 120 likes

CryoSat reveals retreat of Patagonian glaciers

02/05/2018 8744 views 138 likes

Shifting grounding lines

Antarctica loses grip

03/04/2018 10734 views 164 likes

Secrets of hidden ice canyons revealed

11/10/2017 17751 views 147 likes

CryoSat reveals iceberg

Giant iceberg in the making

05/07/2017 30230 views 224 likes

Antarctica in 3D

CryoSat reveals Antarctica in 3D

24/03/2017 24626 views 168 likes

Sea ice

To the Arctic for CryoSat and beyond

20/03/2017 5095 views 69 likes

Four lakes under Thwaites

CryoSat reveals lake outbursts beneath Antarctic ice

08/02/2017 9263 views 139 likes

Ice thickness from CryoSat and SMOS

Satellite cousins have ice covered

16/12/2016 4326 views 63 likes

Satellites track variations in Antarctica’s glacial retreat

12/12/2016 5652 views 61 likes

2011–16 November Arctic sea-ice thickness

Arctic freeze slows down

30/11/2016 8773 views 103 likes

A desolate place to work

Probing Greenland’s ice sheet for future satellites

16/11/2016 5339 views 103 likes

Plankton bloom in the Barents Sea

New swath processing for ocean patterns?

28/10/2016 1344 views 6 likes

Stavanger, Norway

CryoSat sets new standard for measuring sea levels

26/07/2016 6414 views 98 likes

CryoSat reveals recent Greenland ice loss

12/07/2016 11709 views 126 likes

From petabytes to pictures

11/05/2016 8312 views 89 likes

Astrolabe Glacier

Antarctic ice safety band at risk

08/02/2016 12455 views 161 likes

Eiffel ice cube

Ice matters

11/12/2015 5363 views 60 likes

Sea ice

Cool summer boosts Arctic ice

20/07/2015 10991 views 93 likes

Southern Antarctic Peninsula ice loss

CryoSat detects sudden ice loss in Southern Antarctic Penin…

22/05/2015 13237 views 115 likes

Spring ice thickness

Fast access to CryoSat’s Arctic ice measurements now availa…

17/04/2015 8454 views 77 likes

Ice venturers yield results for CryoSat

18/03/2015 2857 views 49 likes

Austfonna ice loss

Satellites catch Austfonna shedding ice

23/01/2015 12403 views 95 likes

Five years ice-thickness change

CryoSat extends its reach on the Arctic

15/12/2014 8536 views 68 likes

Gravity reveals seafloor

CryoSat unveils secrets of the deep

03/10/2014 14060 views 114 likes

Greenland ice-sheet height

Ice sheet highs, lows and loss

20/08/2014 15449 views 106 likes

Sea-level detail from CryoSat

Special delivery from CryoSat

11/06/2014 4092 views 50 likes

Antarctica’s ice loss

CryoSat finds sharp increase in Antarctica’s ice losses

19/05/2014 14912 views 98 likes

Setting up camp

Ice mission and extreme camping

14/05/2014 5272 views 60 likes

Antarctic artefacts

CryoSat detects hidden Antarctic pattern

21/01/2014 7990 views 72 likes

Autumn sea-ice thickness from CryoSat 2010–2013

Arctic sea ice up from record low

16/12/2013 41963 views 139 likes

Thinning ice

Antarctica’s ice loss on the rise

11/12/2013 11668 views 106 likes

Measuring the storm surge

CryoSat measures European storm surge

09/12/2013 7177 views 68 likes

New dimensions on ice

11/09/2013 22815 views 68 likes

Site of crater

CryoSat maps largest-ever flood beneath Antarctica

02/07/2013 14494 views 117 likes

SMOS tracks Hurricane Igor

ESA’s Earth satellites are stars

21/06/2013 6916 views 34 likes

CryoSat reveals major loss of Arctic sea ice

13/02/2013 13184 views 44 likes

Altimeter reading over Cuba

CryoSat hits land

21/12/2012 12649 views 35 likes

ESA satellites looking deeper into sea ice

05/10/2012 3775 views 0 likes

Radar altimetry gains altitude in Venice

24/09/2012 2978 views 3 likes

Watch the altimetry symposium live from Venice

21/09/2012 1354 views 1 likes

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