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CryoSat
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CryoSat-2 CryoSat
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CryoSat-2
CryoSat-2 The ESA CryoSat-2 satellite, dedicated to monitoring the thickness of marine ice and the thickness of the ice sheets overlaying Greenland and Antarctica.

CryoSat

European Space Agency satellite
Also known as: CryoSat-2
Written by
Erik Gregersen
Erik Gregersen is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica, specializing in the physical sciences and technology. Before joining Britannica in 2007, he worked at the University of Chicago Press on the...
Erik Gregersen
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

CryoSat, European Space Agency satellite designed to study the effect of climate change on ice in Earth’s polar regions. It launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 8, 2010, on a Russian Dnepr launch vehicle. CryoSat circles Earth in a polar orbit. Its primary instrument is the SAR Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL), which is designed to measure changes of less than 1 cm (0.4 inch) per year in the height of ice. (SAR...

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