ESA and NASA ship first joint image of Greenland Ice Sheet melting

Though each satellites carry altimeters as their major sensor, they make use of various applied sciences to gather their measurements. CryoSat makes use of a radar system to find out Earth’s floor peak, whereas ICESat-2 makes use of a laser system for a similar activity.

Though radar indicators can cross by means of clouds, in addition they penetrate the ice sheet floor and must be adjusted to compensate for this impact. Laser indicators, however, mirror from the precise floor however can not file when clouds are current. The missions are subsequently extremely complementary, and mixing their measurements has been a holy grail for polar science.

A brand new examine from scientists on the UK Centre for Polar Remark and Modelling (CPOM) and published today in Geophysical Analysis Letters, exhibits that CryoSat and ICESat-2 measurements of Greenland Ice Sheet elevation change conform to inside 3% of the adjustments going down.

This confirms that each satellites may be mixed to supply a extra dependable estimate of ice loss than both may obtain alone. It additionally signifies that if one mission have been to fail, the opposite might be relied upon to keep up our file of polar ice change.

Between 2010 and 2023, the Greenland Ice Sheet thinned by 1.2 m on common. Nevertheless, a lot bigger adjustments occurred throughout the ice sheet’s ablation zone the place summer time melting exceeds winter snowfall; there, the typical thinning amounted to six.4 m.

Probably the most excessive thinning occurred on the ice sheets outlet glaciers. At Sermeq Kujalleq in west central Greenland (often known as Jakobshavn Isbræ), the height thinning was 67 m, and Zachariae Isstrøm within the northeast the height thinning was 75 m.

Altogether, the ice sheet shrank by 2347 cubic kilometres throughout the 13-year survey interval – much like the quantity of water saved in Africa’s Lake Victoria. The most important adjustments occurred in 2012 and 2019, when the ice sheet shrank by greater than 400 cubic kilometres due to excessive melting in these years.

Greenland’s ice melting additionally has profound results on world ocean circulation and climate patterns. These adjustments have far-reaching impacts on ecosystems and communities worldwide. The supply of correct, up-to-date knowledge on ice sheet adjustments can be vital in serving to us to organize for and adapt to the impacts of local weather change.

“We’re very excited to have found that CryoSat and ICESat-2 are in such shut settlement,” says lead writer and CPOM researcher Nitin Ravinder. “Their complementary nature gives a powerful motivation to mix the info units to supply improved estimates of ice sheet quantity and mass adjustments. As ice sheet mass loss is a key contributor to world sea degree rise, that is extremely helpful for the scientific group and policymakers.”

The examine made use of 4 years of measurements from each missions, together with these collected in the course of the Cryo2ice campaign, a pioneering ESA-NASA partnership initiated in 2020. By adjusting CryoSat’s orbit to synchronise with ICESat-2, ESA enabled the near-simultaneous assortment of radar and laser knowledge over the identical areas.

This alignment permits scientists to measure snow depth from area, providing unprecedented accuracy in monitoring sea and land ice thickness.

Tommaso Parrinello, CryoSat Mission Supervisor at ESA, expressed optimism in regards to the marketing campaign’s influence: “CryoSat has supplied a useful platform for understanding our planet’s ice protection over the previous 14 years, however by aligning our knowledge with ICESat-2, we’ve opened new avenues for precision and perception.

“This collaboration represents an thrilling step ahead, not simply when it comes to expertise however in how we are able to higher serve scientists and policymakers who depend on our knowledge to know and mitigate local weather impacts.”

“It’s nice to see that the info from ‘sister missions’ are offering a constant image of the adjustments happening in Greenland,” says Thorsten Markus, mission scientist for the ICESat-2 mission at NASA.

“Understanding the similarities and variations between radar and lidar ice sheet peak measurements enable us to totally exploit the complementary nature of these satellite tv for pc missions. Research like this are vital to place a complete time sequence of the ICESat, CryoSat-2, ICESat-2, and, sooner or later, CRISTAL missions collectively.”

ESA’s CryoSat continues to be instrumental in our understanding of local weather associated adjustments in polar ice, working alongside NASA’s ICESat-2 to offer strong, correct knowledge on ice sheet adjustments. Collectively, these missions characterize a big step ahead in monitoring polar ice loss and making ready for its world penalties.