| CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS
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Measurements > Snow and Ice >
Ice sheet topography >
Ice sheet topography
  | Measurement Definition*: Map of ice sheet heights. Intended over land (for the ocean, see Sea-ice thickness) - Physical unit: [ cm ] - Accuracy unit: [ cm ]. |
| Instrument | Status/
Accuracy | Instrument Description | Measurement Technology | Timeline |
ATLAS
Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System | Operational
| Provide date on ice sheet height and sea ice thickness, land altitude, aerosol height distributions, cloud height and boundary layer height. | n/a |  |
IRIS
Interferometric Radar Altimeter for Ice and Snow | Being developed
| Ku-band Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter (with added Ka-band channel for snow depth retrieval and in combination with AMR-CR MW Radiometer for ice&snow classification and wet troposphere correction) to cover the needs for continuous monitoring of the sea ice
thickness and land ice elevation measurement after Cryosat-2 with enhanced performance. | n/a | |
LTI
Laser Tracking Instrument | Approved
| The aim of MAGIC is to obtain high-resolution measurements in space and time and include the capability to determine the variations in gravity field due to mass change in hydrology, cryosphere, oceanography, solid Earth and climate change signals so as to serve science and operational products including emergency services. | n/a | |
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* Description adapted from WMO.
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