It only covers the months of January and February, but the UK team behind the data says it can now roll out the information on a continuous basis.
The extent of Arctic sea-ice has become a major issue in recent years, with summer melting appearing to outstrip what many climate models had predicted.
But a proper assessment of the status of the sea-ice requires knowledge also about its thickness - something scientists have only recently had the tools to measure from space.
"Some years the wind will push the ice out of the way or pile it up, and it may look from the area coverage like it's all melted," explained the Cryosat mission's principal investigator, Professor Duncan Wingham.
"But it's only when you combine the area coverage information with the thickness information that you get the product - volume. And that's what you really need to know to answer the question about melting," he told BBC News. Read the full report here.
Source: by Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent, BBC News, Paris.
