Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, a joint U.S.-European satellite built to measure global sea surface height, has sent back its first measurements of sea level.
- Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich will continue a decades-long effort to measure global ocean height from space, which started in the early 1990s. Since then, the rate of sea level rise has doubled with a current rate of 0.16 inches (4 millimeters) per year.
- The rise is caused almost entirely by a combination of meltwater from land-based glaciers and ice sheets and the fact that seawater expands as it warms.
- The data provide information on sea surface height, wave height, and wind speed off the southern tip of Africa.
- The new satellite that will become the primary orbital tool for tracking sea-level rise is in excellent shape.
When Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich was launched?
- The satellite was launched on November 21, 2020 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a Space-X Falcon 9 rocket.
- Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich is named in honor of the former director of NASA’s Earth Science Division, who was a leading figure in advancing ocean observations from space. Freilich passed away Aug. 5, 2020.
(Source: NASA)
