The ocean east of Greenland is covered by ice all year round (the white line shows the boundary of the oceanic ice). The water underneath is subject to a dynamic seasonal process and is influenced by the currents of the Atlantic ocean. (Illustration: Marcello Passaro, Felix Müller / DGFI-TUM)
Research news - Radar satellites supply the data used to map sea level and ocean currents. However, up until now the radar's "eyes" have been blind where the oceans are covered by ice. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now developed a new analysis method to solve this problem. The melting of the polar ice cap would have a drastic effect: Sea level would rise by several meters around the world, impacting hundreds of millions of people who live close to coasts. "This means one of the most important questions of our time is how climate change is affecting the polar regions," explains Dr. Marcello Passaro of the TUM German Geodetic Research Institute. The blind spot of the radar "eye" . But changes in sea level and ocean currents in the ice-covered regions of the Arctic and Antarctic in particular are very difficult to detect.
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