Satellite set to give new Arctic data

The European Space Agency satellite ‘CryoSat’, which is set to be launched in Russia this weekend (October 8th), will give the environmental research community a new level of insight into climate change in the Arctic and other areas, scientists have announced.

The three-year Arctic mission using the advanced satellite was proposed by UK scientist Professor Duncan Wingham, from the Natural Environment Research Council’s Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling.

“The great difficulty at present is to figure out whether changes in ice cover are due to melting or to changes in the winds that shift the ice around. The only way to do this is to examine the entire Arctic at the same time. CryoSat is the first satellite designed to do this job, and after six years in the making, we are really looking forward to getting our hands on the data,” commented Professor Wingham.

The mission will also produce data on the major ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, giving a full picture of rising sea levels and the global warming issue. Results from the mission will be used for governmental-level climate change prediction models.

“CryoSat will be crucial to our understanding of one of our planet's most fragile areas,” said Science Minister Lord Sainsbury. “The UK's world-class science and innovative engineering has put us right at the heart of this cutting edge mission.”