ICESat-2: An Overview of Science Objectives, Design, Status, and Data (Invited Presentation)

NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2’s (ICESat-2) mission objectives are to quantify polar ice sheet contributions to sea level change, quantify regional signatures of ice sheet changes to assess driving mechanisms, estimate sea ice thickness, and to enable measurements of canopy height as a basis for estimating large-scale biomass. While the objectives focus on altimetry, measurements of atmospheric properties are essential for cloud-clearing and forward scattering characterization and associated science.  With a scheduled launch date in late 2017 most of the flight hardware has been assembled, integrated and tested, and algorithm implementation for its standard geophysical products is well underway. The spacecraft, built by Orbital ATK, is completed and is undergoing testing. ICESat-2’s single instrument, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS), is built by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and by the time of the meeting will be undergoing integration and testing with the spacecraft, becoming the ICESat-2 observatory.  This presentation will give an overview of the design of ICESat-2, of its hardware and software status, with a focus on data collected for atmospheric science data products and applications.