Mapping the surface of our oceans
ESA TV News
Format 4:3
Satellites have confirmed it these last years: sea levels are rising world-wide by an average of 3 millimetres per year.
To monitor this, and be able to anticipate floods, tropical storms or even tsunami waves, space provides tools with dedicated satellites. For example Jason 2, launched last June, is using radar altimetry technology to map the surface of our oceans.
For more info on this subject please check the script that is online as a PDF file under : http://television.esa.int/photos/EbS60914.pdf
A WMV preview clip is online under :
http://esa.contentcoders.com/mphi/JASON2_TV_02-12-08_wmplow.wmv

SCRIPT JASON 2

10 00 00 Generic
10 00 42 TEXT It may appear calm, but sea levels are rising steadily by an average of 3 millimeters per year world-wide. And as ocean levels increase, so do the effects of tsunami waves and tropical storms.
But why do sea levels change? And what does this tell us about our climate?
10 01 01 Mikael Rattenborg, Director of Operations, EUMETSAT
The changes in the mean sea level in the oceans is due to two factors, essentially. It's due to the thermal expansion of the ocean, so when the ocean heats up then it expands, but itís also due to the melting of fresh water, so the supply of fresh water from melting ice caps, glaciers and rivers. And it's a combination of those two effects that we can see in the mean sea level rise, so the mean sea level rise is a climate indicator; it's a very precisely measured parameter that gives us information about the evolution of the climate.
10 01 36 TEXT
To obtain such accurate measurements, Jason 2, the latest in the line of sea level satellite