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The world will soon have a much clearer picture of how quickly humans are melting the ice of the Earth and expanding the seas, with data collected by a sophisticated satellite launched by NASA.
Every 91 days, the creation of one billion dollars over ten years will be in orbit on more than 1,000 paths. The satellite, the size of a smart car, will point six lasers on ice caps in the Arctic and Antarctic. It will then calculate how long the beams take to rebound. NASA will be able to more accurately measure the ice sheet heights and the thickness of the remaining sea ice.
"With sea ice, we have been able to measure the extent (or area) really well since about 1980 … but what we have not been able to measure is the thickness," he said. said Tom Neumann, deputy NASA researcher for the mission. "Thickness is a centerpiece of the puzzle because the storm makes the sea ice more easily explode. It melts faster. So that gives you an idea of why the region is changing.
According to NASA, melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica has raised the global sea level by more than one millimeter a year, or one-third of the global increase. The sea level rise accelerates and the seas could be several meters higher by the end of the century.
The satellite IceSat-2, launched Saturday, replaces an original satellite taken out of service since 2009. Between 2003 and 2009, the measured sea ice has lost 40% of its thickness, said Neumann.
Since then, NASA has used a plane to take more rudimentary steps of melting ice for about a month a year in the Arctic and Antarctic. It covered less ground, but allowed NASA to monitor the faster parts of the pack ice and pack ice.
Neumann said that it is possible that the satellite detects an ice loss greater than what NASA has measured up to here. Gaps in the data, including in eastern Antarctica, may show the decrease or growth of ice.
The new satellite will provide more complete coverage and measure to the nearest centimeter.
"IceSat-2 will collect 5,000 measurements in each of its six beams after a while, but every hour, every day …," Neumann said.
While Donald Trump doubts the scientific consensus on man-made climate change and his administration cancels standards to calm global warming, Neumann said several federal agencies want to see satellite data when they start coming back in October .
The US Geological Survey is looking at elevation data, and the navy would like to look at how changes will affect shipping lanes, he added. With the melting ice, new roads are expected to open in the Arctic, significantly reducing delivery times.
NASA has a whole fleet of Earth observation satellites, including to detect climate change. Trump this year has proposed to cut the budget that funds many of the others.
Private companies and public interest groups, and even the state of California, have announced their own plans for climate-related satellites.
A collaboration between Environmental Defense Fund and Harvard University is expected to be launched in 2021 to detect methane leaks from oil and gas activities.
Steven Hamburg, EDF's chief scientist, said the researchers had realized that they could build the satellite more quickly and cheaply than the government. EDF research suggests that oil and gas companies in the United States lose 60% more methane than estimates from environmental regulators.
Methane traps much more heat than carbon dioxide, which is more common. As its life span is short, reducing emissions would have a rapid impact on temperatures, Hamburg said.
The European Space Agency has a satellite that measures greenhouse gases, but does not indicate in detail where leaks occur. GHGSat, a private company, plans to launch a second greenhouse gas monitoring satellite shortly.
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