The torpedo-shaped instrument gathers data about the difference between the level of the seawater beneath the ice and the surface of the ice itself.
The Greenland ice sheets cover 1.7m square km an area only a little smaller than Mexico and the surface of the ice rises to an altitude of 3km.
It is on that surface of the ice that they have adapted ways of catching seals that are their principal prey.
These data will provide invaluable information about Antarctic atmospheric dynamics, of the origin of water vapour over the oceans and how it is ultimately deposited as snow on the surface of the ice sheet.
Satellites have long been used to track ice extent (area), but calculating the thickness of the marine floes requires the overflying spacecraft to gauge the difference between the top of the ice surface and the top of the water - a relatively simple calculation then gives the overall volume.
The idea that the surface of Mercury has ice has been kicking around since the 1970s, and radio telescope images in 1991 showed some signs that were consistent with there being water ice on the surface.
Sequential optical images of high spatial resolution were used for the first time to derive surface ice velocities of Glaciar Upsala, a fast-moving fresh-water calving glacier in southern Patagonia.
Data from the Sharad (SHAllow RADar) instrument (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), document that some of these glacial-like features, which you find at Mars' mid-latitudes, have a significant volume of ice left below a surface of rock debris.
Discovery of volcanic ice flows and melting of ice on the surface of Europa that support the premise of liquid oceans underneath.
They announced preliminary findings in March but now have good data confirming large amounts of the water-ice just beneath the surface south of 60 degrees latitude.
One theory is that the summer sun melts ice on the surface of the glacier which creates pools of water which then flow into moulins -- narrow tubular shafts in the glacier.
These have shown that Mars had vast oceans in the past, and went on to demonstrate, after this book went to press, that Mars still has lots of ice beneath its surface.
Dr Malin and Dr Edgett suggest that the gullies are being created by water that is either seeping slowly to the surface or building up behind barriers of ice and occasionally bursting through.
They spend most of their time on sea ice, this cap of ice that is floating around on the surface of the Arctic Ocean.
"Cryosphere" refers to the regions of the Earth's surface where ice predominates.
Greenland's surface layer vaulted into the news in summer 2012 when higher than normal temperatures caused surface melting across about 97 percent of the ice sheet.
ENGADGET: NASA's GROVER eco-rover to examine Greenland's ice sheet (video)
This has allowed scientists to retrieve information about the Arctic Ocean region's gravity field, its surface circulation, and the thickness of its sea-ice cover.
Alex Scott, SNH area officer for West Sutherland and Wester Ross (North), said the caves provided a unique record of Scotland's ancient history, as glaciers during the Ice Age erased many remains buried just below the surface of the ground.
BBC: NEWS | UK | Scotland | Highlands and Islands | New tests on rare polar bear find
One striking sequence shows Endurance buried up to her deck in ice, a tangle of rigging and splintered timbers, every surface thickly covered with hoar-frost.
Aside from the crunch of crampons on ice, the only sound is meltwater running over the glacier surface in a perfect zigzag stream.
And now the Arctic's upper layers are getting less dense, for several reasons: melting Arctic glaciers, rising surface-water temperatures, increased precipitation and an absence of salt concentrations resulting from sea-ice formation.
Water-ice covers Charon, while Pluto's surface is predominantly nitrogen frost with traces of methane and carbon monoxide ices.
The ice then melts, leaving a space below the surface, which caves in under the stress of vehicles and eventually forms a pothole.
In 1969 he created a new curved ice ax, the Piolet, which gave climbers better purchase, say, on the smooth surface of a frozen waterfall.
This has enabled scientists to estimate the volume of water in the ice cap and speculate that much of the planet's original water is either hidden below the surface or missing.
The sea ice expanded during Southern Hemisphere autumn and winter in response to the development of a fresh, cool surface water layer, which floated on the denser, warmer salty sea water below.
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