ICESat-2 Orbit
- Visualizations by:
- Greg Shirah
- View full credits
The ATLAS lidar on ICESat-2 uses 3 pairs of laser beams to measure the earth’s elevation and elevation change. As a global mission, ICESat-2 will collect data over the entire globe, however the ATLAS instrument is optimized to measure land ice and sea ice elevation in the polar regions.
For more information on ICESat-2 click here.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Visualizer
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
Scientist
- Thorsten Markus (NASA/GSFC)
Producer
- Ryan Fitzgibbons (KBRwyle)
Technical support
- Ian Jones (ADNET)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET)
Data provider
- Timothy Rebold (Emergent Space Technologies LLC)
Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
Terra and Aqua BMNG (A.K.A. Blue Marble: Next Generation) (Collected with the MODIS sensor)
Credit: The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).
Dataset can be found at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/
See more visualizations using this data setHipparcos Tycho Catalogue (A.K.A. Tycho 2 Catalogue) (Collected with the Telescope sensor)
Dataset can be found at: http://archive.eso.org/ASTROM/
See more visualizations using this data setNote: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.
Related pages
ICESat-2 Maps Subglacial Lakes in Antarctica
July 29th, 2021
Read moreData visualization featuring precise map of Mercer and Conway subglacial lakes in West Antarctica. The visualization sequence starts with a view of the Americas and slowly zooms into the suture between the Mercer and Whillans ice streams. Surface-height anomaly data from NASA's ICESat-2 mission provide critical insight for the drain-fill cycles of subglacial lakes and aid in the discovery of two new water bodies within the same region. This data-driven visualization includes labels of ice formations close to the area of interest and repeats playback of the segment of the subglacial lakes surface-height anomalies. Data visualization sequence of surface-height anomaly data from NASA's ICESat-2 mission for Conway and Mercer subglacial lakes. This sequence includes colorbar, timestamp, scale bar and lake outlines. Data visualization featuring Mercer and Conway subglacial lakes in West Antarctica. The visualization sequence starts with a view of the Americas and slowly zooms into the suture between the Mercer and Whillans ice streams. Surface-height anomaly data from NASA's ICESat-2 mission provide critical insight for the drain-fill cycles of subglacial lakes and aid in the discovery of two new water bodies within the same region. This data-driven visualization sequence includes labels of ice formations close to the area of interest. Data visualization sequence of surface-height anomaly data from NASA's ICESat-2 mission for Conway and Mercer subglacial lakes. This sequence includes colorbar, timestamp, scale bar information. This set of frames provides the subglacial lakes data overlay geo-registered on top of the New Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA). Frames are provided in 4K and HD resolution. This set of frames provides the data layer of the subglacial lakes visualization sequence. Frames are provided with transparency in 4K and HD resolutions. Outlines of Lake Conway (left) and Lake Mercer (right). This still image is provided with transparency. Scale bar provided in 4K and HD resolutions. This set of frames provides the timestamp overlay of the subglacial lakes data visualization sequence. Frames are provided with transparency in 4K rersolution. Still image of colorbar layer for the subglacial lakes data visualization sequence. The still image is provided with transparency in 4K resolution. Colorbar (with annotations) of subglacial lake surface-height anomalies. Colorbar created for the subglacial lakes data. Brown-white-blue divergent colorbar to separate the subglacial lake height anomalies above (orange/low to brown/high) and below (light blue/shallow to dark blue/deep) surface. The colorbar is applied to the study area of Lake Conway and Lake Mercer. NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite 2, or ICESat-2 dense laser altimetry data allowed scientists for the first-time to precisely map subglacial lakes in Antarctica. NASA’s ICESat-2 measures the height of the ice surface, which, despite its enormous thickness, rises or falls as lakes fill or empty under the ice sheet. In the study, titled Illuminating Active Subglacial Lake Processes With ICESat-2 Laser Altimetry, published in Geophysical Research Letters, researchers Matthew Siegfried et al. integrated height data from NASA’s ICESat-2 mission, its predecessor ICESat, as well as from CryosSat-2 from the European Space Agency. The published findings provide critical insight for spotting new subglacial lakes from space and a better understanding of their drain and fill cycles. Furthermore, the findings increase our knowledge on how outlines or boundaries of lakes change gradually as water enters and leaves the reservoirs.The data visualization sequence starts with a view of the Americas from space and slowly zooms into the continent of Antarctica. During the gradual zoom labels indicate ice formations of high relevance in West Antarctica, such as Ross Ice Shelf, Siple Coast, Mercer Ice Stream, Whillans Ice Stream and finally Conway Subglacial Lake and Mercer Subglacial Lake. The Conway and Mercer subglacial lakes are located near the suture between Mercer and Whillans ice streams – one of the most studied active subglacial regions in Antarctica. After the final zoom stage surface-height anomaly data reveal changes in the study area of Lake Conway and Lake Mercer for the period of September 2018-June 2020.The data sequence shows the connected fill-drain cycle of Conway and Mercer subglacial lakes. For example by May 2019, we can see how water drained from Lake Conway to Lake Mercer, where the area within the outlines of Conway subglacial lake is mostly brown-ish and the area within the outlines of Mercer subglacial lake is mostly blue-ish. In addition, we can see that by January 2020 the opposite shift has occurred, where water from Lake Mercer drained to Lake Conway. During the sequence, we can also detect the formation of two new smaller lakes, adjacent to the Conway and Mercer subglacial lakes. These two new lakes are called: Lower Conway Subglacial Lake, which is located between Lake Conway and Lake Mercer and Lower Mercer Subglacial Lake, which is located south of Mercer subglacial lake. The data visualization content featured on this page contains distinct versions for 4K and HD resolutions. Please select the appropriate version for the native resolution of your screen.Data Sources: Conway Subglacial Lake and Mercer Subglacial Lake Spatial Height Anomalies for the period 09/2018-05/2020, derived from the ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Land Ice Height V003 data set. This data set (ATL06) provides geolocated, land-ice surface heights (above the WGS 84 ellipsoid, ITRF2014 reference frame), plus ancillary parameters that can be used to interpret and assess the quality of the height estimates. The data were acquired by the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) instrument on board the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) observatory.Citation: ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Land Ice Height V003. Version 003. Archived by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Government, NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL06.003 [Date Accessed: July 14, 2021] Matthew R. Siegfried. (2021, June 8). mrsiegfried/Siegfried2021-GRL: Initial release with acceptance (Version 1.0). Zenodo. doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4914107Outlines of Conway and Mercer subglacial lakes, derived by ICESat mission. The outlines were provided by the science team and are available here: https://github.com/mrsiegfried/Siegfried2021-GRL/tree/main/data/outlines [Date Accessed: July 27, 2021]New Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) Product, Center-Filled LIMA, complete contintent created by the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) Project. The Center-Filled LIMA product is a seamless and virtually cloudless mosaic created from processed Landsat 7 ETM+ scenes. In areas where Landsat had no coverage imagery from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Mosaic of Antarctica (MOA) was used. The visualizations featured on this page utilize the New LIMA product as the Antarctica texture throughout the sequences. doi: https://doi.org/10.5066/P9TEIU3HThe dataset is available at: https://lima.usgs.gov [Date Accessed: June 14, 2021].Citation: Bindschadler, R., Vornberger, P., Fleming, A., Fox, A., Mullins, J., Binnie, D., Paulson, S., Granneman, B., and Gorodetzky, D., 2008, The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica, Remote Sensing of Environment, 112, pp. 4214-4226. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2008.07.006Blue Marble: Next Generation was produced by Reto Stöckli, NASA Earth Observatory (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center). Citation: Reto Stöckli, Eric Vermote, Nazmi Saleous, Robert Simmon and David Herring. The Blue Marble Next Generation – A true color earth dataset including seasonal dynamics from MODIS, October 17, 2005. The visualizations on this page utilize Blue Marble data to map the water and land bodies around the globe. The rest of this webpage offers additional versions, frames, layers and colorbar information, associated with the development of this data-driven visualization. For More InformationSee [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-space-lasers-map-meltwater-lakes-in-antarctica-with-striking-precision/](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-space-lasers-map-meltwater-lakes-in-antarctica-with-striking-precision/) Related pages
ICESat-2 Launch Live Interviews
Sept. 4th, 2018
Read moreB-roll will be added on Thursday, Sept 6th Canned interview with Dr. Tom Neumann/ ICESat-2 Deputy Project Scientist. TRT 2:48. Soundbites include graphics Canned interview with Dr. Kelly Brunt. TRT 3:59. Dr. Brunt is looking off camera, no graphics NASA's Mission Using Space Lasers Launches SoonInterview NASA Scientists About Groundbreaking MissionNASA’s newest satellite launching soon will use an extremely precise laser, split into six beams, to track Earth’s shrinking polar ice. The Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, known as ICESat-2, will shed light on how much the vast ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctica grow and shrink each year — improving our understanding of sea level rise and its impact around the globe.ICESat-2 is slated to launch to space on September 15 aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Join NASA scientists — days before launch — from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, September 7 to learn about ICESat-2’s fast firing lasers that will send 10,000 pulses per second as it orbits the globe. Related pages
Leaders in Lidar
Jan. 19th, 2023
Read moreLeaders in Lidar series teaser in standard format.Music: "The Archives," Universal Production Music.Complete transcript available. Chapter 1: The Laser Is BetterThe scientists and engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center embark on a new technological and scientific journey, building and sending a laser altimeter to Mars with the MOLA-1 Instrument.Music: "Fragment," "Chasing Lights," "Charming Noise," "Steady Pace," "The Cage," "Taking It All In," "The Archives," "Intriguing Coincidence," "Everyday Stories," Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available.Video Descriptive Text available.Note on footage used: 00:03-00:09 provided by pond5. Chapter 2: Go Back to MarsAfter the devastating loss of Mars Observer, the Goddard team mourns and regroups to build a second MOLA instrument for the Mars Global Surveyor mission. But before they send their laser altimeter to Mars, the team seizes an opportunity to test it on the Space Shuttle.Music: "Unanswered Questions," "Chasing Lights," "Curious Occasion," "Time Ticking Away," "Have You Seen Annie," "Down to the Wire," "Man Versus Clock," "Everyday Stories." Universal Production Music.Complete transcript available.Video Descriptive Text available. Chapter 3: Take the Next StepsRiding on the success of MOLA, the Goddard team develops new lidar instruments for Earth, the Moon and Mercury. Each new instrument is a major leap forward in technology and scientific ambition and equally fraught with challenges.Music: "Breakthrough Discovery," "Chasing Lights," "Prism Lights," "Ellipsis," "What Have We Done," "Resistor," "Starlight Andromeda," "Cascadia," "Everyday Stories," Universal Production Music.Complete transcript available.Video Descriptive Text available.Note on footage used: 10:25 clip provided by pond5. Chapter 4: All the Easy Missions Are DoneThe Goddard team recounts the challenging paths that lead to the current lidar missions, the Global Ecosystems Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) and ICESat-2, which look to measure changes on our planet.Music: "Quick Rhythmic Stabs," "Chasing Lights," "Little Magic," "In Broad Daylight," "Hidden between the Pages," "Down Is Not Out," "Curious by Nature," "Correlating Combination," "Everyday Stories," Universal Production Music.Complete transcript available.Video Descriptive Text available. Chapter 5: Masterpieces of ScienceA look to the future of lidar missions and a reflection on what makes the Goddard Space Flight Center a great place to innovate, collaborate and build on the past for the future.Music: "Curious by Nature," "Chasing Lights," "Planetary Planes," "Hidden Between the Pages," "Hope," Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available.Video Descriptive Text available. Series teaser for vertical Instagram Reels.Music: "The Archives," Universal Production Music.Complete transcript available. A supercut of scientists explaining how laser altimetry works. Formatted for vertical Instagram Reels. The first test for Goddard's lidar came on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour with the Shuttle Laser Altimeter. Formatted for vertical Instagram Reels. Scientists and engineers eagerly await the first results of MOLA-2. Formatted for vertical Instagram Reels. The team recall the challenges of building a much smaller laser altimeter to send to Mercury aboard the MESSENGER spacecraft. Formatted for vertical Instagram Reels. The airborne lidar keeps the scientific momentum going in between satellite launches. Formatted for vertical Instagram Reels. Shortly after the launch of LRO, the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter is suspiciously silent. Formatted for vertical Instagram Reels. Engineer Scott Luthcke explains how geolocation allows for ICESat-2's precise ranging and measuring. Formatted for vertical Instagram Reels. Related pages
Photon Phriday: One Phull Orbit
Oct. 15th, 2020
Read moreMusic: "Sun Age," "Data Visions," "Water Memory," Universal Production Music.Complete transcript available. Follow an entire orbit of the ICESat-2 mission as it measures the elevation of oceans, sea ice, mountains and islands around the Earth. This video shows the same orbit (ground reference track 1352) on two different dates (December 26, 2018, and September 24, 2019) to capture the clearest, least cloudy data examples. Each frame shows a different aspect of the orbit. The upper left frame is the entire photon cloud standardized on a global scale. The upper right frame shows selected photon cloud granules that sync with the global scale within a degree in order to show more spatial detail. In many cases, the zoomed-in photon clouds in this frame have been slowed down in order to show details clearly. The bottom right frame shows video examples of the terrain that correspond with where the orbit is. The bottom left terrain is the continuous orbit on a blue marble with labels for countries and other geographic features that represent where the orbit went over or very nearby. Related pages
SVS Demo Reel
July 25th, 2019
Read moreThis is the SVS Demo Reel presented at SIGGRAPH 2019 in Los Angeles, CA. Related pages
A Slice of Ice
March 4th, 2019
Read moreExplore the first data results from the ICESat-2 satellite. ICESat-2 captured Antarctica's flat Ross Ice Shelf and steep Queen Maud Mountains - some of which had never been previously measured. Over Antarctica's Weddell Sea, sea ice of different thickness and bumpiness is broken up by the cracks between floes, called leads. ICESat-2 is on all the time. Over Mexico, it measured tree heights, forest floor, plus the bathymetry of a lagoon and the ocean waves. ICESat-2 uses a fast-firing laser to measure the height of Earth's surface. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/icesat-2-reveals-profile-of-ice-sheets-sea-ice-forests) Related pages
Mass Balance of Ice Sheets
Sept. 26th, 2018
Read moreAntarcticaMusic: "Distant Echoes," Adam Salkeld, Atmosphere Music Ltd. PRS; "Evolution of Life," David Stephen Goldsmith, Atmosphere Music Ltd. PRSComplete transcript available. GreenlandMusic: "A New Hope," Al Lethbridge, Atmosphere Music Ltd. PRS; "Spirals within a Sphere," Adam Salkeld, Atmosphere Music Ltd. PRSComplete transcript available. Animation only with text walkthrough. Animation only with no text overlaid. Animation of snow accumulation, credit: Vuk Nikolic Related pages
ICESat-2 Por Los Números (en Español)
Sept. 10th, 2018
Read more300 trillones.Música: "Cristal Delight," Fred Dubois, Killer TracksTranscripción completa disponible.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. 532 nanómetros.Música: "Outstanding Monuments," Laurent Dury, Killer TracksTranscripción completa disponible.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. 90 metros.Música: "Landscape Wonders," Fred Dubois, Killer TracksTranscripción completa disponible.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. 0.2 microradianes.Música: "Castles and Cathedrals," Fabrice Ravel-Chapuis, Killer TracksTranscripción completa disponible.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. 1,387 es el número de trayectos de órbita que ICESat-2 completa cada 91 días.Música: "Discovery Thrill," Fred Dubois, Killer TracksTranscripción completa disponible.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. ICESat-2 es un láser espacial de gran precisión que integra la tecnología más puntera de la NASA. Para poder medir la altura del hielo del planeta, los ingenieros deben llevar el instrumento ATLAS de ICESat-2 al extremo: a veces yendo a lo grande, otras a lo pequeño, pero siempre manteniéndolo preciso.ICESat-2 is an incredibly precise space laser that features the latest in NASA technology. To measure ice heights, engineers have to take ICESat-2’s instrument ATLAS to the extreme – sometimes going big, sometimes going small, but always keeping it precise.Click here for English-language versions. Related pages
NASA Scientists Trek the South Pole
Dec. 13th, 2017
Read moreMusic: "Pizzicato Piece," Andrew Michael Britton, David Stephen Goldsmith, Atmosphere Music Ltd.; "We Learn," Andrew Michael Britton, Atmosphere Music Ltd.Complete transcript available. With extreme cold-weather gear, scientific instruments, and two tank-like snow machines called PistenBullys, they begin a traverse on Dec. 21 along section of the 88-degree south latitude line in an arc around the South Pole, documenting a new route across the Antarctic ice. The 470-mile expedition in one of the most barren landscapes on Earth will ultimately provide the best assessment of the accuracy of data collected from space by the Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2), set to launch in 2018. With a fast-firing laser instrument, ICESat-2 will measure the elevation of ice sheets and track how much they change over time. Even small amounts of melt across areas as vast as Greenland or Antarctica can result in large amounts of meltwater contributing to sea level rise. To help document this, ICESat-2's height change measurements will have a precision of less than an inch – ground-truthed, in part, with efforts like this Antarctic campaign. The team will collect precise GPS data of the elevation at 88 degrees south, where ICESat-2’s orbits converge, providing thousands of points where the survey measurements can be compared to satellite data. Related pages
ICESat-2 By the Numbers
Nov. 2nd, 2017
Read moreMusic: "Cristal Delight," Fred Dubois, Killer TracksComplete transcript available. Music: "Outstanding Monuments," Laurent Dury, Killer TracksComplete transcript available. Music: "Landscape Wonders," Fred Dubois, Killer TracksComplete transcript available. Music: "Castles and Cathedrals," Fabrice Ravel-Chapuis, Killer TracksComplete transcript available. Music: "Discovery Thrill," Fred Dubois, Killer TracksComplete transcript available. ICESat-2 is an incredibly precise space laser that features the latest in NASA technology To measure ice heights, engineers have to take ICESat-2’s instrument ATLAS to the extreme – sometimes going big, sometimes going small, but always keeping it precise. Related pages