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March
29, 2007 Arctic sea ice plays
an important
role in climate change. The decline of average sea ice cover, observed
over the
past years, means that sea ice reflects progressively less solar energy
back
into space, causing temperatures in the The goals of ICESAR
include
improvements of sea ice observations facilitated by satellite radar, as
well as
better predictions for weather and climate models. The research
campaign
provided data for the technical alignment of ESA satellite Sentinel 1,
because
one of its radar systems will take up observation of Arctic ice cover
in 2011.
The research aircraft Polar 2, operated by the Alfred Wegener
Institute, is
equipped with various meteorological instruments and camera systems.
During a
recording flight, Polar 2 travels at low altitude while,
simultaneously,
another research aircraft of the DLR covers the same trajectory three
kilometers
higher, surveying the ice with an imaging radar system. The data
collected by
this method will provide the basis for a procedure using satellite
images for
ice data assembly.
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