In 2018, NASA is dispatching two new satellite missions
whose observations will include Earth’s most critically changing regions – the poles.
They’re NASA's first new missions in 15 years that will
measure how Earth's massive ice sheets are changing.
Previously thought to be slow-moving and stable, the ice sheets covering
Greenland and Antarctica have rapidly lost ice over the last several decades.
As a result, scientists predict global sea level could be
1 to 4 feet higher by 2100.
This kind of significant change could increase the rate
of warming already in progress and affect global weather patterns.
But ice sheets aren’t Earth's only frozen spots experiencing critical change.
Ice sheets, sea ice, glaciers, permafrost, and snow cover
are all showing signs of transformation.
Collectively known as the “cryosphere”,
these frozen zones help sustain stable conditions for life on Earth.
However, rising temperatures worldwide
are resulting in ice loss, global sea level rise, thawing permafrost, and more.
This spring, NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)
will launch GRACE-FO, continuing the revolutionary
gravity measurements of its predecessor, GRACE.
Designed to observe global surface mass changes,
including land ice, sea level, and water on land,
GRACE was the first satellite to confirm
the shrinking of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.
In September, ICESat-2 will launch and use its advanced laser
to measure the thickness of sea ice and the changing elevation of glaciers and ice sheets.
The mission will provide scientists with a view of how the height of the ice sheets are changing,
to within less than an inch.
GRACE-FO and ICESat-2 will be NASA’s newest “eyes in the sky"
while an extensive field team of researchers collect complementary airborne and
ground data about ice, snow, permafrost and the role the ocean plays in Earth’s frozen regions.
Working together, these new missions and campaigns will help
NASA predict how the cryosphere is changing
and how those changes will impact the way we live.