UB scientists selected for NASA satellite mission to map Earth’s ice sheets and ecosystems

BUFFALO, N.Y. — University at Buffalo scientists Sophie Nowicki and Beata Csatho are part of an international team chosen for a NASA satellite mission designed to improve predictions of environmental change and help mitigate natural disasters.

The Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer (EDGE) team was one of two teams selected out of four finalists for NASA’s Earth System Explorers (ESE) program, which conducts Earth science missions based on key priorities laid out by the scientific community and national needs. 

The selected missions are expected to launch no earlier than 2030, with the total estimated cost of each mission not to exceed $355 million, not including the launch.

Led by the University of California San Diego, EDGE will be the first global satellite imaging laser altimeter system. Laser altimetry is a technology that sends laser pulses to Earth’s surface and records the time it takes them to return to the spacecraft. This will allow EDGE scientists to make high-resolution, three-dimensional observations of the structure of terrestrial ecosystems like forests and the surface features of glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice. 

“Ice sheets are continuously monitored using satellites. However, to improve our understanding of key ice sheet processes that contribute to uncertain sea level rise, we require denser and more accurate surface height measurements,” says Csatho, PhD, professor in the UB Department of Earth Sciences. “EDGE will provide high resolution and accuracy needed to study critical ice sheet processes.”

“The name EDGE reflects that we are targeting regions at the edge of the ice sheets that are rapidly changing but whose processes we don’t fully understand,” adds Nowicki, PhD, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor of Earth Sciences, director of the UB Center for Geological and Climate Hazards and faculty member in the UB RENEW Institute. “It’s crucial that we gain understanding as we approach possible tipping points, some of which are predicted to occur not long after the satellite launches around 2030.”

EDGE builds on two NASA space laser altimeter missions that first launched in 2018: Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) and Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI).

EDGE advances the technology on ICESat-2 and GEDI through an increased density of laser beams that will map the planet using five 120-meter-wide strips. This first-of-its-kind swath-mapping lidar in space provides much higher resolution and accuracy, enabling a more comprehensive view of the dynamics of the Earth’s surface. This resolution of the depth, height and structure of terrestrial, polar and coastal systems will bring Earth’s features into focus to enable understanding of the processes driving change. 

“We will be able to monitor changes in ice sheets with unprecedented detail and accuracy, and provide valuable input for numerical ice sheet models,” Csatho says. “Additionally, we are excited about the potential of artificial intelligence to analyze the new EDGE measurements and integrate them with other Earth observations.”

Nowicki and Csatho were involved in previous NASA satellite laser altimeter missions. They both served on Operation IceBridge, while Csatho served on the science team for both ICESat-2 and the original ICESat mission. 

On EDGE, Csatho will be a land ice products co-lead in charge of elevation change products over glaciers and ice sheets, while Nowicki will be cryosphere application lead, tasked with coordinating and expanding ice sheet modeling, as well as community engagement with the team’s dataset. 

Part of Nowicki’s role is to ensure that EDGE provides actionable data to empower communities to create a more resilient world. 

“The users of our data will be wide-ranging, from universities to governments to private organizations,” Nowicki says. “The uses are wide-ranging, too — from assessing which coastal communities are at risk from sea-level rise, to determining whether seas are navigable, to ensuring communities have access to quality water.”

 To achieve this global coverage, along with the required pointing stability and agility, the EDGE mission will fly on a Lanteris 500 series spacecraft from Lanteris Space Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intuitive Machines.

It will be led by Helen Amanda Fricker, PhD, professor of geophysics at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In addition to Fricker, leadership includes deputy principal investigator John Armston of the University of Maryland, College Park, as well as Instrument Principal Investigator Bryan Blair and Project Scientist Scott Luthcke from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Other collaborations include the Australian Antarctic Division, Boise State University, Bristol University, Colorado School of Mines, George Mason University, National University of Singapore, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution, UCLA, the University of Tasmania, the University of Washington, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.