CryoSat-2 Installed in Launch Silo

In readiness for launch on 8 April, ESA's CryoSat-2 ice satellite has now joined the rest of the Dnepr rocket in the launch silo at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

As with all ESA's Earth Explorers, CryoSat has been developed to address a particular issue identified by the scientific community -- in this case, to understand exactly how Earth's ice fields are changing.

For some years, satellites such as Envisat have been mapping the extent of ice cover. However, in order to understand how climate change is affecting these sensitive regions, there is an urgent need to determine how the thickness of the ice is changing.

In response to this need, CryoSat is Europe's first mission dedicated to monitoring Earth's ice. The advanced observation techniques will provide precise measurements on variations in the thickness of floating marine ice as well as the vast ice sheets that overlie Antarctica and Greenland. This much-awaited information will lead to a better understanding of the relationship between ice and climate change.

Cryosat-2 skal måle havisens tykkelse i de polare områder, og også ændringer af indlandsisen i Grønland og Antarktis. Det er en del af en videnskabelig overvågning af klimaforandringerne.

A resurrected satellite, carrying the hopes of climate scientists, successfully made a second attempt to reach orbit today from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The first CryoSat satellite crashed minutes after launch in 2005, ditching - with cruel irony - into the Arctic Ocean it was meant to study.

The satellite will be able to measure the thickness of Arctic and Antarctic ice to within a centimetre - an accuracy unmatched until now.

Cryosat-2 skal måle havisens tykkelse i de polare områder, og også ændringer af indlandsisen i Grønland og Antarktis. Det er en del af en videnskabelig overvågning af klimaforandringerne

There is appearing today a new fly in the ointment . In order to study the alarming results of climate change , the publicity tune of today , the european space agency launched a new satellite , cryosat , intended to take hourly pictures from both icecaps and whereof spectacular results are expected within half a years time . A new radar will be able to look under the ice and is surely going to deliver the proof that agw is resulting in an impoverished icefloor even when the real ice-extent is growing . All ice will be almost certain classified as unfit for human travelling and the proof of this fact may even come earlier from the catlin-insurance group or a crazy individual trying to conquer the north pole on his own . Anyway we are living in fascinating times and any real capitalist will applaud the hype as long as he is able to make money out of it ! You are a winner , baby al on the way of becoming a zillionaire !

Ismasser under lup

Klodens ændrede klimatiske forhold påvirker i særdeleshed kryosfæren. Kryosfæren er betegnelsen for Jordens samlede ismasser.

Det er især randen af den grønlandske indlandsis, gletscherne på den antarktiske halvø og tykkelsen af den arktiske havis, der i dag er påvirket af den globale opvarmning. Det er samtidigt områder, man hidtil har haft svært ved at kortlægge direkte med satellit. CryoSat er derfor sendt i kredsløb for at bestemme afsmeltningen mere nøjagtigt og dermed bidrage til mere pålidelige prognoser for den fremtidige udvikling.