NASA satellite to measure changes in polar ice; data will explain rising sea levels

The ICESat-2 will continue the observations initiated by its predecessor, the ICESat-1, whose mission ended in 2009.

The North American space agency has announced that it will launch a satellite on September 15 that will measure changes in the Earth's polar ice with an "unprecedented detail."

The ICESat-2 will continue the observations initiated by its predecessor, the ICESat-1, whose mission ended in 2009.

The new satellite, to be launched from the Vandenberg military base in California, is equipped with the most advanced laser instrument for such observations, according to a NASA statement posted on its website.

According to the US Space Agency, ICESat-2 will measure the average annual change in ice heights covering Greenland and Antarctica, with a margin of up to four millimeters (pencil width), obtaining 60,000 measurements per second.

NASA recalls that the melting in Greenland and Antarctica is raising the average ocean level by more than a millimeter per year. The satellite will also record changes in the thickness and volume of Arctic Ocean ice, whose area has declined by 40 percent since 1980.

As it crosses the Earth from pole to pole, the satellite will monitor the ice quota in the polar regions four times a year, providing data on seasonal changes.

The laser-based instrument with which ICESat-2 is equipped, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) measures the height by timing how long photons of light take to travel from the satellite to the surface of the Earth and to turn back.

For NASA, data from ICESat-2 could contribute to advancing awareness of the impact of thawing on rising sea levels and on rising temperatures, the effects of climate change.

The satellite will also measure the height of the oceanic and terrestrial surface, including the tops of forest trees (which, along with existing information on the global forest area, will allow scientists to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide stored in forests).