Satellite to provide new test of global warming threat

A spacecraft that will reveal how rapidly Arctic sea ice may be thinning as a result of global warming is set to blast off from northern Russia on Saturday.

The European Space Agency (ESA) satellite CryoSat will provide scientists with the first detailed measurements of the depth of floating sea ice across the Arctic. Comparing monthly measurements will enable them to monitor any deterioration.

"The situation may be much worse than we thought," says Duncan Wingham, principal investigator. "There simply hasn’t been a change like this for the past million years."