EU Launches First Satellite to Gauge Effects of Warming on Polar Ice

The European Space Agency’s first satellite mission dedicated solely to studying the effects of global warming on polar ice was launched in Kazakhstan, a long-awaited mission scientists hope will provide new insights into shrinking ice volume and its impact on the climate system. From 447 miles above the Earth’s surface, the CryoSat-2 satellite will use a unique radar altimeter that can measure changes in the height of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, as well as sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic. The satellite will also travel closer to the poles than any previous space mission — reaching 88 degrees latitude — allowing scientists to monitor an additional 4.6 million square kilometers (1.8 million square miles). “We know from our radar satellites that sea ice is diminishing, but there is still an urgent need to understand how the volume of ice is changing,” said Volker Liebig, ESA’s director of Earth Observation Programmes. An earlier attempt to send the satellite into orbit in 2005 was unsuccessful when it was destroyed during the launch.