NASA ICESat2

star gazer

Ice Cloud land Elevation Satellite 2 is going to monitor how the surface of the Earth changes, particularly how ice sheets, sea ice and glaciers change and add information into the understanding of what's there now. It will also look for the vegetation in forests.

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ICESat-2 will measure elevation to see how much glaciers, sea ice and ice sheets are rising or falling. NASA’s fleet of satellites collect detailed images of our planet that show the changing extent of features like ice sheets and forests, and with ICESat-2’s data, scientists can add the third dimension – height – to those portraits of Earth.
ICESat-2’s orbit will make 1,387 unique ground tracks around Earth in 91 days – and then start the same ground pattern again at the beginning. This allows the mission to measure the same ground tracks four times a year and scientists to see how glaciers and other frozen features change with the seasons – including over winter.
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It is due to launch on the 15th of September on a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket



About the mission

With the new technological advancements that ATLAS will bring, the ICESat-2 mission is designed to accomplish four science objectives:

Measure how much melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica contribute to sea level changes
Measure how ice sheets, glaciers and more are gaining or losing mass in different regions, to help researchers understand the mechanisms behind those changes
Estimate the thickness of sea ice, and monitor any changes
Measure the height of forests to calculate the amount of vegetation in a region

Capt'n Midnight

ESA's CryoSat has been up there a while looking at the ice.
https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/CryoSat

And ESA has satellites with lasers too like Aeolus https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Aeolus