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It seems improbable that a satellite designed to monitor polar ice sheets and floating sea ice could accurately measure a disturbance in Earth\u2019s magnetic field. But that is just what ESA\u2019s CryoSat mission did earlier this year.<\/p>\n
This is a story of unique innovation in satellite technology. At the end of last year, the CryoSat<\/a> mission, which has been operating for almost 16 years, was given a remote upgrade of new software for its platform magnetometer. This instrument is installed on the satellite to ensure it orbits at the right altitude and directs its science instruments<\/a> towards the right part of Earth\u2019s surface. The platform magnetometer is therefore an operational instrument and was not designed to produce scientific data about Earth\u2019s magnetic environment.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tCryoSat key to measuring sea-ice thickness<\/a><\/p>\n In fact, CryoSat is known primarily as an ice mission. It carries an advanced radar instrument that measures small changes on the surface of ice sheets and sea ice, down to an accuracy of a few millimetres. As part of ESA\u2019s Earth Explorer family of satellites<\/a>, it has produced scientific datasets that give us insights into Earth\u2019s polar oceans<\/a>, subglacial lakes<\/a>, as well as ice sheets<\/a>.<\/p>\n The upgrade to its operational magnetometer means that CryoSat is now also able to measure changes in Earth\u2019s magnetosphere with scientific precision, using data to calibrate its measurements from ESA\u2019s dedicated magnetic field-observing Earth Explorer, Swarm<\/a>. This newly acquired skill means there are now in effect two magnetometry missions in ESA\u2019s Earth Explorer family. Swarm (and CryoSat) will be joined by another magnetic field-measuring Scout satellite, NanoMagSat<\/a>, which is currently in development.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tSwarm constellation over Earth<\/a><\/p>\n Swarm remains ESA\u2019s primary mission dedicated to studying Earth\u2019s magnetic field, while CryoSat maintains its key focus on measuring and monitoring changes to ice sheets and our polar oceans. The crucial thing to point out is that CryoSat\u2019s platform magnetometer is being used innovatively to measure Earth\u2019s stronger external magnetic field variations. It is providing excellent data compared to other platform magnetometers on other non-magnetic missions and the upgrade is helping the geomagnetic community by providing a complementary dataset.<\/p>\n Anja Stromme, ESA\u2019s Mission Manager for Swarm, said, \u201cThis is a great accomplishment that significantly benefits the Swarm community.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tEarth\u2019s magnetic field during peak solar flare, January 2026<\/a><\/p>\n At the beginning of this year, CryoSat was able to put its new-found skills to good use when a particularly strong X-class solar flare caused a geomagnetic storm in Earth\u2019s atmosphere<\/a>. The event began on 18 January and caused some of the most intense radiation storms on record \u2013 with people able to witness stunning aurora in much lower latitudes than usual, from Europe to Mexico. The cause was an eruption on the Sun\u2019s surface, which released high energy particles that reached Earth within 25 hours. Over a period of three days, CryoSat was able to contribute scientific data to measure the intensity of the geomagnetic storm. CryoSat\u2019s data proved to be of high quality and complementary to data produced by Swarm.<\/p>\n