Gravity is not the same everywhere on Earth. It is influenced by geological formations and varying density of materials beneath the surface. To map these gravitational differences, the ESA (European Space Agency), has built GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer). To be launched in early 2009, this craft will circle 155 miles above the planet to measure the differences in gravitational pull. The technical aspects can be quite mind boggling, but what it will do is determine what lie’s under the Earth’s crust, give an accurate measurement as to how high mountains really are, and more specifically, determine how Earth will react to the melting ice sheets. You might not think this will affect you, but it will.

Description:

Over its lifetime of about 20 months, GOCE will map global variations in the gravity field with extreme detail and provide a unique model of the geoid, which is crucial for understanding ocean circulation, sea-level change and ice dynamics – all of which are affected by climate change.