Mobile version

Arctic

Satellite monitoring of Arctic sea ice provides key indicators to assess the extent of climate change and give us a true picture of our planet.

Altimetry satellites are tracking variations in Arctic sea ice throughout the year and over longer periods. In the last 20 years, the extent of sea ice has decreased significantly as a result of climate change. This decline has accelerated since 2006 and by September 2012 sea ice coverage was at the lowest level ever seen, dropping below 4 million square kilometres—just half what it was in the 1970s. 

Since 2013, the French-Indian SARAL satellite has taken over Envisat’s role, monitoring Arctic ice from the same polar orbit. In 2014, ice extent recovered slightly from the catastrophic decline observed in 2012, but at 5 million square kilometres it is still below the average of the last 30 years.

The combined use of Ka-band observations from SARAL and Ku-band observations from Europe’s Cryosat satellite are today giving scientists new tools for analysis. First, they are being used to map fracturing of ice to gauge sea ice status and tell us more about how it is evolving over time. Fractured ice usually melts faster than an unbroken surface.

Second, they will ultimately allow us to measure ice thickness more precisely.

Satellite monitoring of Arctic sea ice provides key indicators to assess the extent of climate change and give us a true picture of our planet.

Further information:

EnglishFrançais
Rss feedsContactPartnersFAQLexiconLegal noticePersonal Data Protection PolicyMobile
You must enable cookies in your browser preferences to save the modifications
You are using an older version of Internet Explorer, please update to take full advantage of Aviso+ features

Customize the home page

View all widgets
Reduce display
Public profile
User profile

Select/Deselect widgets

Discover AVISO+

Customizable home, reading tools, products search guide, etc.. Discover step by step the features of the new site AVISO+.

Customizable homepage

This home page is composed of blocks called "widgets".

Rearrange the blocks with a "Click & Drop".

Hide a widget with the cross at the top right. Reset or add a widget with the "wrench" icon. The "User" and "Public" profiles offer a predefined organization.

All the modifications are automatically saved as cookies on your machine so as to enable you to have your own specific AVISO+.

Reading tools

Ease your reading by choosing the page background colour (black/white) and/or by modifying the font size.

Browsing menu and breadcrum trail

To ease your browsing through AVISO+, you can use at any time the main banner items with the interactive submenus or use the browsing menu on the left side of the screen (it is open by default). For more readiness of the page contents, you can fold and unfold the browsing menu by clicking on the tab. At any time you can know where you are thanks to the browsing menu or the breadcrum at the top of the page.

Products search guide

The first submenu of the "Data" banner item leads you to a new search form enabling you to find quickier the product that suits your needs. The list of results is updated according to your selection criteria.

AVISO+ Multimedia

The first submenu of the "Multimedia" banner item leads you to AVISO+ collections of images and videos linked to altimetry and its applications. Have a nice visit!