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Earth Sciences Division
Operational

ICESat 2: Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat-2)

The Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, measures the height of a changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses a second. Launched September 15, 2018, ICESat-2 carries a photon-counting laser altimeter that allows scientists to measure the elevation of ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice and more - all in unprecedented detail.

Launch Date
August 2018
Class
Flight Project
Website
Key Staffs
  • Support Scientist
  • Receiver Algorithms Lead
  • Senior Support Scientist
  • Calibration Team Member
  • Sr. Test Systems Engineer
  • Programmer
  • Project Scientist
  • Deputy Project Scientist
  • Deputy Project Scientist
  • Instrument Scientist

The Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, measures the height of a changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses a second. Launched September 15, 2018, ICESat-2 carries a photon-counting laser altimeter that allows scientists to measure the elevation of ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice and more - all in unprecedented detail.

Related Publications

2026. "Altimetry Data from ICESat-2 Brings Value to the Private Sector.", Remote Sensing, 18 (8): 1114 [10.3390/rs18081114] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Global Climatologies of Vegetation Aerodynamic Roughness for Momentum: A Fusion of MODIS and ICESat‐2 Observations (d0s, DOY 001-171).", Zenodo, (2): [Full Text] [10.5281/zenodo.15449804] [Dataset]

2025. "Global Climatologies of Vegetation Aerodynamic Roughness for Momentum: A Fusion of MODIS and ICESat‐2 Observations.", Earth and Space Science, 12 (8): e2023EA003027 [10.1029/2023ea003027] [Journal Article/Letter]

2026. "ICESat-2 land ice products resolve Greenland and Antarctic ice-sheet height changes on seasonal to multiyear time scales.", Journal of Glaciology, [10.1017/jog.2026.10152] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD) for Ocean Surface Height, Ver 7.", ICESat-2 Theoretical Basis Document, (Ver 7): 170 [10.5067/4SZEQR2DHQOR] [Report]