Europe's Cryosat spacecraft monitors the thickness of the ice in the far north of the Earth. In 2013 we saw the thinnes winter ice ever. This year, in February, we could see an ice layer 25cm thiker. But anyway the trend is go down.
One researcher from the UK's Nerc Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling says we have seen high levels of Arctic sea ice and thickness volume in the last years. But it isn't a good reference. What people should watch is the sea ice volume because it proof how much ice is left. What we need to understand is the process that have caused the change of the climate in the Artic and it also can help us to know more accurate what may happen in the future.
This year the maximun extent of sea ice was on 25th February and it was the smallest winter maximum in the satellite record. But satellite Cryosat measuring another aspect: the height of the ice near the ocean water. Then experts combining the thinkness and the extent they can calculate the changes in the sea-ice.
This February Cryosat saw a volume across the Artic of nearly 24.000 km3. In 2013 it was about 21.000 km3.
Nowaday, Cryosat team is able to turn out the information much faster that five years ago when the project started. And as well as this is the fith anniversary of the satellite, the team is developing a new sistem that works near real-time to improve the work of science and maritime activities.
For example: to move inside the thik sea-ice we need icebreaker ships with strengthened. With Cryosat, now we are able to provide users of the Artic with information of the ice to move quikly and avoid accidents.
Whereas before Cryosat was only a scientific tool to study the changing environment of the Artic, now it is acting more like satellites tha Europe is providing day to day operational data.
The European Space Agency's mission manager on Cryosat consideres that this kind of knowledges are becoming a priority for a number of operational and services. For example shipping compaines ask for especific information to operate and sail safely. In this way, a mission like Cryosat has all the characteristics to answer this requirements.
This is a web portal where any user can get information two days after Cryosat had made the observations. It is a series of samplings across the region that can give a clearer idea of the conditions you can find in any part of the Artic.
Once more we see how science can help any difficulty we have and also helps us to improve all what we do. This time we profit a satellite that scientifics had to study the enviromental changes in Artic to improve the sailing and make it more safe. Obviously all this technologies have a lot of uses and they can help us to make what we do. But certainly we are using a technologie that was create to try to slow the melting as a tool to increase this melting. All the traffic by ship in the Artic cause melting and pollute the Earth, so we are moving to solve the first objective.
Anyway, this is what science have, evry new discovery or invention have a huge of different uses. Some will be good and others will be bad buet one time that they are think it's impossible to spot any af them.
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