[ad_1]
NASA is about to launch a satellite equipped with the most advanced laser instrument of its kind in space, to provide critical observations on the evolution of ice sheets, glaciers and ice on the Earth .
Launched on September 15, the ice, cloud and ground elevation satellite (ICESat-2) will measure the average annual elevation change of land ice covering Greenland and Antarctica, capturing 60 000 measurements per second.
"The new ICESat-2 observing technologies – a major recommendation from the scientific community in NASA's first ten-year Earth Science study – will shed light on how the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica contribute to the rise in sea level, "said Michael Freilich, NASA's Scientific Missions Directorate in the United States.
ICESat-2 represents a major technological leap in our ability to measure changes in ice heights, NASA said in a statement.
Its advanced topographic laser altimeter system (ATLAS) measures height by timing the time required for individual light photons to travel from the spacecraft to Earth and back.
"ATLAS has forced us to develop new technologies to get the scientists needed to advance research," said Doug McLennan, ICESat-2 Project Manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
"That meant we had to design a satellite instrument that would not only collect incredibly accurate data, but also collect over 250 times more height measurements than its predecessor," said McLennan.
ATLAS will fire 10,000 times per second, sending hundreds of billions of photons to the ground in six beams of green light.
The round-trip of individual ICESat-2 laser photons at the Earth's surface and at the back is timed at one-billionth of a second to accurately measure the elevation.
By circling the Earth from one pole to the other, ICESat-2 will measure ice heights four times a year along the same path in the polar regions, providing seasonal and annual monitoring of changes in ice elevation.
Beyond the poles, ICESat-2 will measure the height of ocean and land surfaces, including forests.
ATLAS is designed to measure both the top of the trees and the soil underneath, which, combined with existing data sets on forest extent, will help researchers estimate the amount of carbon stored in the world's forests.
Researchers will also study height data collected on ocean waves, reservoir levels, and urban areas.
"As ICESat-2 will provide unprecedented precision measurements with global coverage, it will not only provide new information about the polar regions, but also unanticipated discoveries around the world," said Thorsten Markus, scientist of the ICESat-2 project at Goddard.
(This article has not been modified by Business Standard staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed).
[ad_2]
Source link
