Researchers depart for Arctic to test satellite mission

A team of researchers from UCL Earth Sciences departed today for the Arctic to test how well sea-ice thickness is measured by the European Space Agency's ice satellite CryoSat-2, which originated at UCL. The project team consists of researchers from UCL Earth Sciences? Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM): Dr Katharine Giles (Natural Environment Research Council postdoctoral fellow), PhD student Rosemary Willatt and Director of CPOM Dr Seymour Laxon. CryoSat-2 chief scientist Professor Duncan Wingham, who is based at CPOM, first proposed the satellite in 1999. It was designed to measure changes in ice thickness in the Arctic and Antarctica with unprecedented accuracy, and launched in April 2010 from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The project team have designed an experiment to check how well the radar can see through snow, which will enable them to test the accuracy of the data from the satellite. They will take measurements at the Arctic using a radar similar to the one on board the satellite to compare them with measurements taken by CryoSat-2 from space. The researchers will carry the radar onto the sea ice on a sledge, and will study the snow at the same time.