NASA satellite launched to measure Earth's ice changes
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — A NASA satellite designed to precisely measure changes in Earths ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice and vegetation was launched into polar orbit from California early Saturday.
A Delta 2 rocket carrying ICESat-2 lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 6:02 a.m. and headed over the Pacific Ocean.
NASA Earth Science Division director Michael Freilich says that the mission in particular will advance knowledge of how the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica contribute to sea level rise.
The melt from those ice sheets alone has raised global sea level by more than 1 millimeter (0.04 inch) a year recently, according to NASA.