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

Polarstern

A year trapped in Arctic ice for climate science

24/09/2019 6234 views 121 likes

Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake

CryoSat conquers ice on Arctic lakes

05/08/2019 4507 views 88 likes

Bathymetry of Chukchi Cap

Expanding our knowledge of Arctic Ocean bathymetry

24/07/2019 4796 views 58 likes

Non-linear tides in the Barents Sea

Modelling tides in the Arctic Ocean

11/07/2019 4378 views 46 likes

Ice streams named

Antarctic glaciers named after satellites

07/06/2019 4420 views 59 likes

Antarctic ice loss 1992–2019

A quarter of glacier ice in West Antarctica is now unstable

16/05/2019 7401 views 114 likes

Jakobshavn Glacier

Jakobshavn Isbrae Glacier bucks the trend

14/05/2019 11303 views 117 likes

Cloud-free Europe

New observations for the new economy

08/03/2019 10194 views 88 likes

Losing ice

Greenland ice loss quickening

06/12/2018 7950 views 131 likes

Regional sea-level trends

Spotlight on sea-level rise

25/09/2018 14164 views 96 likes

Antarctica hikes up sea level

13/06/2018 9699 views 158 likes

Antarctica in 3D

New view of Antarctica in 3D

11/05/2018 18725 views 108 likes

CryoSat reveals retreat of Patagonian glaciers

02/05/2018 8335 views 138 likes

Shifting grounding lines

Antarctica loses grip

03/04/2018 10287 views 163 likes

Secrets of hidden ice canyons revealed

11/10/2017 17097 views 147 likes

CryoSat reveals iceberg

Giant iceberg in the making

05/07/2017 29781 views 224 likes

Antarctica in 3D

CryoSat reveals Antarctica in 3D

24/03/2017 22857 views 166 likes

Sea ice

To the Arctic for CryoSat and beyond

20/03/2017 4745 views 69 likes

Four lakes under Thwaites

CryoSat reveals lake outbursts beneath Antarctic ice

08/02/2017 8896 views 139 likes

Ice thickness from CryoSat and SMOS

Satellite cousins have ice covered

16/12/2016 4051 views 63 likes

Satellites track variations in Antarctica’s glacial retreat

12/12/2016 5337 views 60 likes

2011–16 November Arctic sea-ice thickness

Arctic freeze slows down

30/11/2016 8451 views 103 likes

A desolate place to work

Probing Greenland’s ice sheet for future satellites

16/11/2016 5156 views 103 likes

Plankton bloom in the Barents Sea

New swath processing for ocean patterns?

28/10/2016 1227 views 5 likes

Stavanger, Norway

CryoSat sets new standard for measuring sea levels

26/07/2016 6213 views 98 likes

CryoSat reveals recent Greenland ice loss

12/07/2016 11221 views 125 likes

From petabytes to pictures

11/05/2016 8152 views 89 likes

Astrolabe Glacier

Antarctic ice safety band at risk

08/02/2016 11956 views 161 likes

Eiffel ice cube

Ice matters

11/12/2015 5116 views 60 likes

Sea ice

Cool summer boosts Arctic ice

20/07/2015 10600 views 93 likes

Southern Antarctic Peninsula ice loss

CryoSat detects sudden ice loss in Southern Antarctic Penin…

22/05/2015 13016 views 115 likes

Spring ice thickness

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

17/04/2015 8226 views 77 likes

Ice venturers yield results for CryoSat

18/03/2015 2687 views 49 likes

Austfonna ice loss

Satellites catch Austfonna shedding ice

23/01/2015 11855 views 95 likes

Five years ice-thickness change

CryoSat extends its reach on the Arctic

15/12/2014 8308 views 68 likes

Gravity reveals seafloor

CryoSat unveils secrets of the deep

03/10/2014 13504 views 113 likes

Greenland ice-sheet height

Ice sheet highs, lows and loss

20/08/2014 14879 views 106 likes

Sea-level detail from CryoSat

Special delivery from CryoSat

11/06/2014 3873 views 49 likes

Antarctica’s ice loss

CryoSat finds sharp increase in Antarctica’s ice losses

19/05/2014 14379 views 98 likes

Setting up camp

Ice mission and extreme camping

14/05/2014 5008 views 60 likes

Antarctic artefacts

CryoSat detects hidden Antarctic pattern

21/01/2014 7617 views 72 likes

Autumn sea-ice thickness from CryoSat 2010–2013

Arctic sea ice up from record low

16/12/2013 29851 views 128 likes

Thinning ice

Antarctica’s ice loss on the rise

11/12/2013 11239 views 106 likes

Measuring the storm surge

CryoSat measures European storm surge

09/12/2013 6899 views 68 likes

New dimensions on ice

11/09/2013 22532 views 68 likes

Site of crater

CryoSat maps largest-ever flood beneath Antarctica

02/07/2013 14065 views 117 likes

SMOS tracks Hurricane Igor

ESA’s Earth satellites are stars

21/06/2013 6537 views 34 likes

CryoSat reveals major loss of Arctic sea ice

13/02/2013 12835 views 44 likes

Altimeter reading over Cuba

CryoSat hits land

21/12/2012 12348 views 35 likes

ESA satellites looking deeper into sea ice

05/10/2012 3455 views 0 likes

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