Laser altimetry and lidar from ICESat/GLAS

Abstract

In December 2001, a spaceborne laser altimeter will be launched into a near-polar, near-circular orbit to measure changes in polar ice-sheet topography, as well as along-track land and ocean topography. The ice-sheet measurements will address fundamental questions about the growth or shrinkage of the polar ice-sheets and their contribution to current and future global sea level rise or fall. The measurements, which also include cloud heights, will be made using a 1064 nm laser pulse. An atmospheric channel, using a 532 nm pulse, will measure aerosol vertical profiles and other atmospheric properties.