Written question asked by Keith Vaz (Labour) on Tuesday, 28 February 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 2 March 2006. It was answered by Elliot Morley (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 March 2006 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Cryosat Mission (Global Warming)

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the role of the European Space Agency's Cryosat mission in assessing global warming; and if she will make a statement.

Answer: Cryosat 2 will make a unique contribution to understanding how Arctic sea ice is thinning due to global warming, and the extent to which the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are contributing to global sea level rise.In parallel with the space-based mission there will be extensive complementary modelling and ground-based experiments to maximise the scientific return from the mission. This will lead to improved predictions of future sea-ice extent and sea-level rise.The lead scientist for the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Cryosat mission is Professor Duncan Wingham, Director of the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC's) Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, based at University College, London. NERC is responsible for the UK's subscription to ESA's Earth Observation Envelope Programme, through which Cryosat is funded.

Secondary information