NASA’s ICESat satellite, which launched in 2003, is expected to cease operations some time this year. This satellite has been measuring ice sheet mass, cloud and aerosol heights, as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics around the globe, and has been responsible for providing scientific evidence of ice sheet shrinkage, particularly in Greenland. The satellite’s main sensor is the the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), the first laser-ranging (lidar) instrument for continuous global observations of Earth.
With the satellite set to cease operations, NASA has granted $2 Million for ICE Bridge missions that will be conducted by the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheet (CReSIS) at the University of Kansas. CReSIS will fly 18 missions aboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft to characterize Antarctic ice sheets between Oct. 15 and Nov. 21, starting the first set of missions over the next few years.
NASA has plans to launch an ICESat-II in the 2014-15 time window. Until then aircraft missions will fill the data gap.
