Laser Radar Animation

  • Released Monday, April 5, 2010
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Laser and radar instruments aboard NASA aircraft provide measurements of the snow and ice surface and down to the bedrock under the ice. Lasers, with a shorter wavelength, measure the surface elevation of the snow or ice to within a fraction of an inch. Radar instruments utilize a longer wavelength and can penetrate the ice to "see" below the surface, providing a profile of ice characteristics and also the shape of the bedrock. This information is critical for understanding how and why the world's biggest ice masses are changing.



Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Release date

This page was originally published on Monday, April 5, 2010.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:54 PM EDT.


Tapes

The media on this page originally appeared on the following tapes:
  • Operation Ice Bridge (Greenland, Spring 2010) Video File 1 (ID: 2010017)
    Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 4:00AM
    Produced by - Richard Chen (NASA)