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Record decline of ice sheets

"The new elevation maps are snapshots of the current state of the ice sheets. The elevations are very accurate, to just a few metres in height, and cover close to 16 million km2 of the area of the ice sheets. This is 500,000 square kilometres more than any previous elevation model from altimetry", says lead-author Dr. Veit Helm, glaciologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven. For the new digital maps, the AWI scientists had evaluated all data by the CryoSat-2 altimeter SIRAL. Satellite altimeter measure the height of an ice sheet by sending radar or laser pulses in the direction of the earth. These signals are then reflected by the surface of the glaciers or the surrounding waters and are subsequently retrieved by the satellite. This way the scientists were able to precisely determine the elevation of single glaciers and to develop detailed maps. On the basis of further CrysoSat-2 the scientists also documented how the elevation has changed over the 2011-2014 period. Ice sheets gain mass through snowfall and lose it due to melting and accelerating glaciers, which carry ice from the interior of the ice sheet to the ocean. "We need to understand where and to which ...

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NOC wins contract to analyse ocean satellite data

Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) have secured a three-year contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to carry out ‘quality control' checks on ocean data captured by one of its satellites. The team at NOC were approached by ESA to analyse data recorded by CryoSat-2, due to their extensive knowledge and expertise in this field and their access to existing oceanographic databases. The CryoSat-2 satellite was launched in 2010 to measure the thickness of ice sheets and polar sea ice using an advanced on-board radar altimeter, but scientists later proved that it could also capture ocean data with much more precision than previous satellite equipment. It is able to more accurately map surface currents and height of waves and also measures surface winds - allowing tracking of extreme events such as storm surges. The satellite collects data continuously and these are provided in three versions of increasing accuracy: in near real-time, more accurate data that are just few days old and 30 day data which are the most accurate. The team at NOC will be carrying out scientific ‘quality control' on these satellite data to validate their accuracy. They will be looking at the information collected and comparing ...

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Imtech Marine improves crew welfare

Imtech Marine announced that ship's crews will have access to PressReader as a new value-added service to its satellite communications portfolio. Starting in August, Imtech Marine customers will be able to use PressReader for access to full content of more than 2,500 newspapers and magazines in 60 languages from more than 100 countries. These can be read on PressReader via a crew member's PC, laptop and mobile devices on board vessels. PressReader and its cross-platform app give users access to thousands of global publications with just one subscription. "By adding PressReader to our connectivity portfolio we give a very useful tool for ship-owners to improve the crew morale. With this solution, crew members have access to news and events they're most interested in, their favorite magazines or local news from their home country", said Rob Verkuil, Business Development Manager of Imtech Marine. Each ship can customize a library of newspapers and magazines based on their particular regional location and passenger demographics. Ships download their selected titles daily via satellite and offer their crew members a local Wi-Fi connection to download them on their personal devices. With this solution, costs remain low for ships while still being able to provide quality ...

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