| Summary: | The ice sheets of the earth are monitored efficiently with satellite altimetry, radar interferometry, and gravity field changes, as exemplified e.g. in the ESA Climate Change Initiative and ongoing IMBIE assessments. Combinations with additional airborne and in-situ GNSS network data further narrow down error estimates and improve spatial resolution, as exemplified in recent joint geodetic adjustments of Greenland ice sheet changes. For the future of ice sheet and glacier monitoring, a new series of gravity field and radar satellites are currently being developed, which will secure the environment modelling of both ice sheet melt, global hydrology and geodynamics in the next decades. Satellites such as GRACE-I, NGGM/MAGIC, CRISTAL and HARMONY are currently in various phases of development. New quantum gravity field satellites provide potentially disruptive technologies for improved satellite climate change monitoring in the 2030’s, with new pathfinder quantum missions such as the EU CARIOQA – Cold Atom Rubidium Interferometer in Orbit for Quantum Accelerometry – already on the way, with other space agencies preparing similar activities. Parallel ongoing developments in quantum gravimetry for airborne and in-situ measurements also point to potential applications for enhanced cryosphere monitoring, as demonstrated in a few ongoing projects.
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