* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: ICESat

Blobrana · L

ICESat's Notable Moments in Science

After seven years in orbit and 15 laser-operation campaigns, ICESat has stopped collecting science data. The last of three lasers on the satellite's Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) ceased emitting light on Oct. 11, 2009. Attempts to restart the lasers have ended, and NASA is pursing options for satellite decommissioning.
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Blobrana · L

Thinning glaciers driving polar ice loss, satellite survey finds
A comprehensive satellite survey of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has revealed an extensive network of rapidly thinning glaciers that is driving ice loss in the regions.
The most profound loss of ice was seen along the continental coastlines, where glaciers speed up as they slip into the sea. In some regions, glaciers flowing into surrounding waters were thinning by nearly 10m a year.
Scientists used data from Nasa's ICESat (Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite) to piece together a picture of the changing fortunes of glaciers on the ice sheets.

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Blobrana · L

New NASA Satellite Survey Reveals Dramatic Arctic Sea Ice Thinning
Arctic sea ice thinned dramatically between the winters of 2004 and 2008, with thin seasonal ice replacing thick older ice as the dominant type for the first time on record. The new results, based on data from a NASA Earth-orbiting spacecraft, provide further evidence for the rapid, ongoing transformation of the Arctic's ice cover.
Scientists from NASA and the University of Washington in Seattle conducted the most comprehensive survey to date using observations from NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite, known as ICESat, to make the first basin-wide estimate of the thickness and volume of the Arctic Ocean's ice cover. Ron Kwok of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, led the research team, which published its findings July 7 in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans.

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