[onlooker]

New website linked to European satellite-spacecraft downloading almost real-time 3D images of Arctic of thickness and extent. It states that measurements can be delivered within 2 days of acquisition. here in link for the enthusiasts
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Obser ... _available
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Obser ... _available

[Whitefang]

That looks great!

The latest measurements available on the new website also show that sea ice around Norway’s Svalbard Archipelago is today only a metre thick – approximately half of what it was in the winter of 2011 just after CryoSat was launched.

Professor Shepherd noted, “The thinner ice around Svalbard coincides with a warming of the surrounding Barents Sea.
Austfonna ice loss

“We’ve already seen the impact of this change in ocean conditions on Svalbard’s Austfonna ice cap, where glaciers have speeded up at unprecedented rates, and the rapid retreat of sea ice in this sector of the Arctic is almost certainly down to the same thing.”

CryoSat’s realtime measurements were first trialled in the spring of last year, to guide a scientific experiment north of Greenland led by CPOM. The service will be tested next week when the Norwegian Polar Institute’s Young Sea Ice mission carries out experiments in the sea-ice pack north of Svalbard.

“After five years of exploitation, CryoSat has provided important answers but also has exposed our lack of knowledge on several fundamental scientific questions,” said Tommaso Parrinello, CryoSat Mission Manager.