ICESat-2

Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite 2

Mission Profile

ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite 2) is a NASA Earth observation satellite launched on 15 September 2018 aboard a Delta II 7420-10C to measure the elevation of Earth's ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice, and vegetation canopy with centimeter-level precision. Its single instrument, ATLAS (Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System), fires 10,000 laser pulses per second in six beams, measuring round-trip photon travel time to determine surface elevation. ICESat-2 data reveals the rate of ice sheet mass loss from Greenland and Antarctica with unprecedented detail, directly constraining projections of sea level rise from climate change. The mission succeeds the original ICESat (2003-2009) and provides continuity in the polar ice elevation record crucial for tracking the cryosphere's response to global warming.