[music] It's been two years since Operation IceBridge has flown
over the West Antarctic Ice Sheet – one of the fastest-melting
large masses of ice on the planet.
Back then, the mission was based out of Punta Arenas, Chile, a great location if you
want to hit the West Antarctic and other science targets near the Antarctic Peninsula.
But for the first time last fall, the mission moved its
field site to the even more remote McMurdo Station, where they
completed the most-comprehensive long-range surveys ever performed of
several areas. For many on the team, it was a new experience
to actually touch down in Antarctica, and see firsthand
things like Weddell seals basking in the sun, gigantic pressure ridges
of sea ice formed by the ice pushing against the coast
the volcanic Mount Erebus, and Scotts cabin
with 100-year old seal flippers mummified by the dry Antarctic air.
But front and center on the teams’ mind
was the new complexity of this year’s challenge. There were new weather patterns
to decipher, new training exercises to prepare the pilots for landing
on a floating sea ice runway, and a host of new regulations for operating
out of McMurdo. Adding to the challenge: a runway
wasstarting to melt away as summer approached.
Even with these challenges and a shortened schedule, the team was able to measure
the sea ice of the Ross Sea, along with land ice
the Siple Coast, the Dome C / Lake Vostok region,
along the Trans Antarctic Mountains, and over Victoria Land.
IceBridge demonstrated it could operate out of this new region and plans to go back
in 2015. But the network of NASA, university,
and international partners who use IceBridge data also
want to see how things have changed in the Antarctic Peninsula, on the Ronne Ice Shelf,
and in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, so they're returning
to operation out of Punta Arenas, Chile once again this year.
[music]
[beep beep, beep beep]