Narration:

Transcript:

On July 16th, the European Space Agency will start to raise the orbit of its CryoSat-2 to be in sync with NASA’s ICESat-2. When the maneuvers are complete later this summer, the two ice-measuring satellites will pass over a swath of the Arctic within a few hours of each other. The overlapping data is highlighted in bright green. The synchronous stretch is more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) and will be key for studying sea ice. CryoSat-2’s radar and ICESat-2’s lidar measure sea ice differently, and overlapping the two will provide new insights into snow depth, ice thickness and the complex Arctic climate system.