Satellites now get full-year view of Arctic sea-ice

Satellites now get full-year view of Arctic sea-ice

Satellites can now measure the thickness of Arctic sea ice in the summer months for the first time, thanks to a new study involving UCL researchers and CPOM associates, Professor Julienne Stroeve and Dr Michel Tsamados.

Until now, satellites could only measure sea ice thickness between October and March, when the ice and snow are cold and dry. In the warmer months, melt ponds on top of the ice floes confused the instruments, which could not be used to distinguish between melted ice on an ice floe and the ocean.

In the new study, published in the journal Nature, researchers used an artificial intelligence technique to correct this problem, in which an algorithm was trained on thousands of simulations of satellite data to reliably distinguish between melt ponds and the ocean.

Click here to view the UCL full article.

All Eyes on Earth

Earth’s ice is melting 65% faster than the 1990s. But without satellites, we would be blind to the true status of global climate change.

CPOM Scientist, Dr Tom Slater’s (University of Leeds) recent article ‘All Eyes on Earth’ written for a Royal Museums Greenwich exhibition can be found here:

Why satellites are critical to fighting climate change | Royal Museums Greenwich (rmg.co.uk)

“Satellite observations have shown that the ice sheets are responding to climate change within just my lifetime.” 

International Astronautical Congress in Paris

CPOM Director, Professor Andy Shepherd (University of Leeds) joined Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s Programmes and Head of ESRIN (ESA establishment in Italy) and co at the IAC2022 to discuss how ESA is preparing to address climate change.  You can also watch Andy Shepherd answering how we raise awareness on climate change and what can scientists do?

“We need to tell people good news stories about climate recovery. There’s hope!”

Watch here: Prof. Andy Shepherd on communicating climate awareness to the public