The Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter (CRISTAL) high-priority candidate mission
International audience The Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter (CRISTAL) mission is one of six high-priority candidate missions (HPCMs) under consideration by the Euro-pean Commission to enlarge the Copernicus Space Component. Together, the high-priority candidate missions fill gaps i...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2020
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-02997093 https://hal.science/hal-02997093/document https://hal.science/hal-02997093/file/tc-14-2235-2020.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2235-2020 |
Summary: | International audience The Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter (CRISTAL) mission is one of six high-priority candidate missions (HPCMs) under consideration by the Euro-pean Commission to enlarge the Copernicus Space Component. Together, the high-priority candidate missions fill gaps in the measurement capability of the existing Coper-nicus Space Component to address emerging and urgent user requirements in relation to monitoring anthropogenic CO 2 emissions, polar environments, and land surfaces. The ambition is to enlarge the Copernicus Space Component with the high-priority candidate missions in the mid-2020s to provide enhanced continuity of services in synergy with the next generation of the existing Copernicus Sentinel missions. CRISTAL will carry a dual-frequency synthetic-aperture radar altimeter as its primary payload for measuring surface height and a passive microwave radiometer to support atmospheric corrections and surface-type classification. The altimeter will have interferometric capabilities at Ku-band for improved ground resolution and a second (non-interferometric) Ka-band frequency to provide information on snow layer properties. This paper outlines the user consultations that have supported expansion of the Coperni-cus Space Component to include the high-priority candidate missions, describes the primary and secondary objectives of the CRISTAL mission, identifies the key contributions the CRISTAL mission will make, and presents a concept-as far as it is already defined-for the mission payload. |
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