The Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter (CRISTAL) high-priority candidate mission

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: Kern, Michael, Cullen, Robert, Berruti, Bruno, Bouffard, Jerome, Casal, Tania, Drinkwater, Mark, Gabriele, Antonio, Lecuyot, Arnaud, Ludwig, Michael, Midthassel, Rolv, Navas Traver, Ignacio, Parrinello, Tommaso, Ressler, Gerhard, Andersson, Erik, Martin-Puig, Cristina, Andersen, Ole, Bartsch, Annett, Farrell, Sinead, Fleury, Sara, Gascoin, Simon, Guillot, Amandine, Humbert, Angelika, Rinne, Eero, Shepherd, Andrew, van den Broeke, Michiel, Yackel, John
• Other Authors: Centre d'études spatiales de la biosphère (CESBIO), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; The Cryosphere
• 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

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.