CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS
Measurements > Snow and Ice >
Sea ice cover, edge and thickness >
Sea-ice thickness


Measurement Definition*: Thickness of the ice sheet - related to sea-ice elevation and density - Physical unit [ cm ], Accuracy unit [ cm ]

Thematic Links
InstrumentStatus/
Accuracy
Instrument DescriptionMeasurement TechnologyTimeline
ASTER
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer
Operational
Surface and cloud imaging with high spatial resolution, stereoscopic observation of local topography, cloud heights, volcanic plumes, and generation of local surface digital elevation maps. Surface temperature and emissivity. ASTER SWIR detectors are no longer functioning due to anomalously high SWIR detector temperatures. ASTER SWIR data acquired since April 2008 are not useable, and show saturation of values and severe striping. All attempts to bring the SWIR bands back to life have failed, and no further action is envisioned.n/a
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.Lidar altimeter
AVHRR/3
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer/3
Operational
Measurements of land and sea surface temperature, cloud cover, snow and ice cover, soil moisture and vegetation indices. Data also used for volcanic eruption monitoring.n/a
HSI-2 (HJ-2A)
Hyper Spectrum Imager 2
Operational
Hyperspectral measurements for environment and disaster management operations.n/a
MSU-MR
Low-resolution multispectral scanning imager-radiometer
Operational
Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection.n/a
SAR (RADARSAT-2)
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C band
Operational
All-weather images of ocean, ice and land surfaces. Used for monitoring of coastal zones, polar ice, sea ice, sea state, geological features, vegetation and land surface processes.Imaging radar (SAR)
SAR (RCM)
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C band
Operational
All-weather, C-band data to support ecosystem monitoring, maritime surveillance and disaster management.Imaging radar (SAR)
SAR-L
L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar
Operational
Land, ocean, emergencies, soil moisture, interferometry, others.Imaging radar (SAR)
SGR-ReSI-CDHS
Space GNSS Receiver - Remote Sensing Instrument, CoreDHS avionics
Operational
Ocean winds, waves, soil moisture, flooding, ice, snow. Similar to SGR-ReSI-Z, but with a smaller Zynq, and only supports 2 RF channels, only allowing collection of single frequency and single polarisation. n/a
SIRAL
SAR Interferometer Radar Altimeter
Operational
Marine ice and terrestrial ice sheet thickness measurement.Radar altimeter
SRAL
SAR Radar Altimeter
Operational
Marine and land services.Radar altimeter
Imaging Microwave Radiometer
Imaging Microwave Radiometer
Being developed
A conical scanning total power radiometer operating in 5 bands (L/C/X/Ku/Ka) to provide high-spatial resolution microwave imaging radiometry measurements and derived products with continuous global coverage and sub-daily revisit in the polar regions and adjacent seasn/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.Radar altimeter
SGR-ReSI-Z
Space GNSS Receiver - Remote Sensing Instrument (Zynq based)
Being developed
Ocean winds, waves, soil moisture, flooding, ice, snown/a
Advanced MSU-MR
Advanced Multispectral scanning imager-radiometer
Proposed
Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection.n/a
* Description adapted from WMO.