NASA’s Operation Ice Bridge Offers Opportunity for CryoSat-2 Data Verification
27.04.2010 - Logistics, Atmosphere & Space, Ice & Snow, Bi-polar
The DC-8 aircraft being used in NASA’s Operation Ice Bridge project (NASA’s six-year field campaign to bridge the gap between ICESat-I and ICSat-II missions) flew directly under CryoSat-2's orbital path as part of a campaign to validate CryoSat-2’s measurements of the ice. As both projects are currently working in the Arctic, ESA and NASA collaborated to make the DC-8’s flight coincide with CryoSat-2’s passage overhead.
CryoSat-2 is currently undergoing a commissioning phase, during which its measurements of ice thickness are being validated by ground truthing missions. This ground truthing phase is essential for CryoSat-2, as it will help the software the satellites use better transform the measurements it makes into ice thickness maps.
After the launch of CryoSat-2, the satellite's Synthetic Aperture Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL) was switched on and delivered its first radar echo data on 11 April. With six months to go before delivering calibrated and validated data to the scientific community, ESA is very pleased with the quality of data so far.
In the meantime, the 750-km worth of data collected during this first underflight will help verify the first CryoSat-2 data and sets the stage for future collaboration between ESA and NASA in validation activities.
