OIB successfully completed the new “Long Line East -IS2” mission today. As predicted, a small section (~15 minutes flight time) of the northernmost section of the science data lines had haze/ low visibility conditions (which did not impact the ATM lidars), the remainder of the science lines were mostly clear with a variety of occasional higher level thin clouds overhead. IceSat 2 passed overhead on this orbital line between 16:18Z, just a few minutes before NASA 817 started flying the science lines. The OIB flight path shifted between the left and right beam pairs about every 7 minutes today, crossing over the center beam pair at the crossing points, and the DC8 operated at 3200′ above the ice surface to maximize capturing the IS2 footprint in the ATM lidars scans swaths. All OIB remote sensing instruments again reported good data collection.
We have two science flight days remaining, and we’ll check tomorrow morning for another flight attempt.
Wide view of todays flight path
Detail of today’s data lines showing the flight track switching between the left and right beam pairs, crossing over the center beam pair at the crossing points.
Visibility on the first and last 15 minutes of the science data lines. Despite the atmospheric conditions the ATM lidars successfully collected data.
Wikipedia Note [Thanks, Rob!]:
Mount Kelsey Mountain rising to c. 1,370 m between M’Clintock Bastion and Blanchard Hill in the Pioneers Escarpment (q.v.), Shackleton Range. In association with the names of pioneers of polar life and travel grouped in this area, named by UK-APC in 1971 after Henry Kelsey (1670-c. 1729), English employee of the Hudson’s Bay company, first white man known to have adopted North American Indian methods of life and travel (including the use of pemmican) in 1691.
Pioneers Escarpment and a large patch of windswept “blue ice”
Clearing conditions after the first 15 minutes on the science line southbound
Small scale features in the ice surface
Small scale features in the ice surface
Small scale features in the ice surface
Shackleton Range.
Pioneers Escarpment
ATM wide scan T6 and narrow scan T7 data elevation plot (4 meter full scale) over small snow surface features and showing the data density of each system collecting data at 10,000 Hz. Preliminary ATM data which will be improved with future calibration analysis.