ObservingtheCryosphere

Acomprehensivecryosphereobserving systemmustbeacombinationofground-based instrumentation, satelliteremotesensing,aircraftmeasurements,modeling, anddatamanagement.

Conditions inareaswherethecryosphereexistsareharsh,andinsituobservations therearedifficult andexpensive.Satellitemonitoringovercomessomeofthelogisticalobstacles, butsatellitesarecostlyanddonotyetfullyaddresstherangeofgeophysicalvariablesneeded tounderstandthecryosphere.

Surfaceandairborneobservations providedatathatcannotbemeasuredfromspace,moredetailedinformationincriticalareas,andobservationswithwhichtovalidatesatelliteretrievals.

World Meteorological OrganizationGlobal Cryosphere Watch

Thecomplexsystemofsatellitesisessentialfordeliveringsustained,consistentobservations oftheglobalcryosphereandareakeytoextendinglocalinsitumeasurements.Nooneall-encompassing sensor exists;rather,thecombination andsynthesis ofdatafromdifferentyetcomplementary sensors isessential, andunderlines thecriticalimportanceofmaintainingkeysynergeticelementsofthesystem.

Similarly, surface-basedmeasurementstakemanyforms.Someareoperationalwithsemi-permanentinfrastructure;othersmaybemobile andcoverashorttimespan.

Together,insitu,satellite,andaircraftmeasurementscoverallscalesofobservation,providing thedataneeded forsmall-scale processstudiesandglobalclimateprediction.

Asrobustasthecryosphereobservingsystemis,manysurfaceobservationnetworkshavebeenreducedandsomedecommissioned.Monitoring effortsareinneedofsustainedfunding. Space-basedcapabilitiesforsomesnow/icepropertiesareverylimited.Thereneedstobeaconcertedefforttoimproveandexpandsystematic,comprehensive,ground-basedmonitoring,andtosupportthedevelopmentofremotesensingmethods.

Formoreinformationvisitglobalcryospherewatch.org.

Figure Credits. p.1 left side: SHEBA; Chinese Meteorological Administration; John Cassano (U Colorado); NOAA/NOHRSC; NASA; p.2 left side: Jan Bottenheim (Environment Canada); Waleed Abdalati, NASA; WMO/WIGOS.