NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

IceBridge is a program of airborne remote sensing measurements designed to fill the gap in measurements between the end of the ICESat-1 mission and the launch of ICESat-2. IceBridge will make two major contributions to cryospheric science:

1. Provide surface elevation data now that the ICESat-1 mission has ended, focused on areas undergoing rapid change that are critical to characterizing select areas of sea ice and modeling the processes that determine the mass balance of the terrestrial ice sheets. Due to the time variable, non-linear changes that these areas undergo, repeated monitoring is required. IceBridge also allows more detailed studies over these areas, though over much smaller overall areas.
   
   
2. Support complementary measurements critical to ice models such as bed topography, grounding line position, and ice and snow thickness. These parameters cannot be measured by satellite, but can be measured from aircraft. They are the other great unknowns in understanding the ice in general and developing predictive models of sea level rise in response to climate change.

The Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM)

› View larger image The Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM), developed at NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., is an airborne laser that measures changes in the surface elevation of the ice. It accomplishes this by using scanning lasers that reflect from the ground back to the aircraft and the information can be converted into elevation maps. By flying ATM over the same swath of ground previously covered by ICESat, researchers can maintain a record of changes.
› More about ATM

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Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor (LVIS)

› View larger image Scientists at Goddard developed LVIS (formerly known as the Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor) a laser altimeter that can map large areas of sea ice and glacier zones from a high altitude.
› More about LVIS

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Multichannel Coherent Radar Depth Sounder (MCoRDS)

› View larger image University of Kansas scientists will fly MCoRDS, a radar used to measure ice sheet thickness. It can also map the varied terrain below the ice, which is important for computer modeling of the future behavior of the ice.

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Snow Radar

› View larger image University of Kansas scientists will fly a snow radar, which measures the thickness of snow on top of sea ice and glaciers, allowing researchers to differentiate between snow and ice and make more accurate thickness measurements.

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Ku-Band Radar Altimeter

University of Kansas' third instrument, the Ku-Band Radar Altimeter, penetrates through snow to measure the surface elevation of sea ice and ice sheets. It can also measure sea surface elevation.

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Gravimeter

› View larger image The gravimeter, managed by Columbia University, will measure the shape of seawater-filled cavities at the edge of some major fast-moving major glaciers.
› More about the gravimeter