ICESat Data Accumulation Animation
Accumulating Data: Glas Builds Its Facts One Point at a Time - The technology behind GLAS is called lidar. Lidar is a distance measuring system similar to radar, except that instead of radio waves it uses pulses of laser light for range finding. The name is a contraction based on the words light and radar: Light Detection And Ranging. A lidar system determines precise distances by measuring the amount of time necessary for a pulse of light to leave an emitter, hit a target, and return. In this case, distance measurements helped researchers determine changes in ice thickness, vegetation, cloud thickness, and much more.
This is the standard definition version MPEG of the ICESat Data Accumulation Animation.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
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Animator
- Susan Twardy (HTSI)
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Writer
- Michael Starobin (HTSI)
Release date
This page was originally published on Monday, February 9, 2004.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.