OIB completed the second ‘pole hole” mission today (“Hamilton Line – Amery Sector*), covering another third of the 88 degree south arc. This is an important data segment as the IceSat 2 satellite tracks converge on 88S each orbit, and the aircraft data will provide valuable calibration/validation data to compare to IS2.
Weather once again was great, blue skies and very calm over the Antarctic Plateau, and all DC8 remote sensing instruments reported good performance and data collection.
On the return leg, NASA 817 passed over the South Pole Station at 20,000′ AGL.
We’ll check weather tomorrow to decide if we’ll attempt another OIB science mission.
*Named in honor of Dr. Gordon Hamilton, the three Hamilton Line missions are designed to survey the southernmost extent of ICESat-2 ground tracks around the 88°S line of latitude.
Wide view of today’s flight path
Detail of today’s flight path
The vast white smooth surface at 88S
A typical view from the flight deck camera
Detail view of the surface
The vast white smooth surface at 88S
The vast white smooth surface at 88S
Detail view of the surface
View from the flight deck camera as NASA 817 approached South Pole Station (just above and a little right of the center probe)
ATM CAMBOT image detail of South Pole Station
ATM FLIR real time camera image4 showing an IR view of South Pole Station
ATM SoxMap view as we passed over the closest approach to the South Pole (latitude 89 degrees 59.4 minutes south)