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NASA’s ICESat Lasers Online

By Staff Writer | October 6, 2003

      The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) has resumed measurements of the Earth’s polar ice sheets, clouds, mountains and forests with the second of its three lasers. The principal mission of ICESat is to measure the surface elevation of the large ice sheets covering Antarctica and Greenland. Measurements of elevation-change over time will show whether the ice sheets are melting or growing as the Earth’s climate undergoes natural and human-induced changes, NASA explained.