Description :
The Agora will follow-on from the Mass Balance of the Cryosphere Session and will look at the state of cryosphere mass balance, asking the question: How much ice is left on the Earth’s surface and how fast is it disappearing? It will feature discussion of existing and planned mass balance assessments like the Ice sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (IMBIE) and the GLAcier Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (GLAMBIE) and the need for similar assessments in other cryosphere mass balance sub-domains.

An objective of the Agora will be a to identify a series of activities/next steps under the ESA Polar Science Cluster to improve estimates of all contributing parts of the cryosphere to a global cryosphere mass balance. This will include work on assessing mechanisms and attributing drivers of change as well as considering of what needs to be done to prepare effectively for Copernicus Next Generation and Copernicus Sentinel Expansion Missions, specifically, CRISTAL, ROSE-L, CHIME and CIMR, as well as ESA missions BIOMASS and Harmony.


Panelists:
Dr Annett Bartsch, b.geos.
Dr Gabriele Schwaizer, ENVEO (Environmental Earth Observation IT GmbH).
Professor Andrew Shepherd, University of Leeds.
Dr Louise Sandberg Sørensen, DTU (Technical University of Denmark).
Dr Rachel Tilling, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Professor Michael Zemp, University of Zurich.

Speakers:
Annett Bartsch (bgeos, AT),
Gabriele Schwaizer (ENVEO, AT)
Andrew Shepherd (U. Leeds, UK)
Louise Sandberg Sørensen (DTU, DK)
Rachel Tilling (NASA, USA)
Michael Zemp (UZH, CH)