[...] (CBS) NASA scientists hope to get new insight into the future of global ocean levels with the launch this week of a laser-equipped satellite designed to measure the waxing and waning of the planet's largest ice sheets.

The Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite, or Icesat, is intended to spend a minimum of three years making nonstop measurements of the elevation of the ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica.
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