Operation IceBridge - Snow Radar

  • Released Monday, December 9, 2019

The snow radar instrument measures the thickness of snow on top of sea ice, which allows researchers to make more accurate sea ice thickness measurements.

Scientists can measure sea ice freeboard, or the amount above the water’s surface, and using the known ratio of ice above and below water to calculate thickness. Snow accumulation can give higher freeboard figures, skewing these results, so knowing snow accumulation is important for measuring sea ice thickness.

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Credits

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

Release date

This page was originally published on Monday, December 9, 2019.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:45 PM EDT.


Missions

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