Spaceborne laser altimetry: 2001 and beyond, in: Book of Extended Abstracts, edited by

• Main Author: B. E. Schutz
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1998
• Subjects: Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.202.4277; http://www.csr.utexas.edu/glas/Publications/wegener_98.pdf

In July 2001, a spaceborne laser altimeter will be launched into a near-polar, near-circular orbit to measure changes in polar ice-sheet topography, as well as along-track land and ocean topography. The ice-sheet measurements will address fundamental questions about the growth or shrinkage of the polar ice-sheets and their contribution to current and future global sea level rise or fall. The measurements, which also include cloud heights, will be made using a 1064 nm laser pulse. An atmospheric channel, using a 532 nm pulse, will measure aerosol vertical profiles and other atmospheric properties. The global retreat of mountain glaciers in the last century has been obvious since the 19 th