As usual with the Bellingshausen sea ice mission, which covers such a wide geographic area, and contains sections of open water (“steaming” into clouds and fog), obtaining good conditions for the optical instruments (lidars and cameras) was a challenge today. OIB did fairly well, due in part to the DC8 aircrew flying under some cloudy sections at 700′ above the ice and over the clouds when too low. We did encounter some fairly clear areas also The optical remote sensing instruments (ATM lidars and cameras) obtained good data over about 2/3 of the flight lines, and of course the radars and gravimeter were not affected by the cloud so obtained complete coverage. During the mission the DC8 underflow the Sentinel 3A and IceSat-2 orbits with close latency.
Tomorrow is a “hard down” rest day to recover from some long mission days and recharge for more mission attempts beginning on Wednesday.
Wide view of today’s mission
Detailed view of today’s flight path
Icebergs embedded in, and drifting thru sea ice
Various type of sea ice
Very thin sea ice
Ice edge near Thurston Island
Iceberg frozen in sea ice
Edge of Thurston Island
[Wiki note:]
Thurston Island is an ice-covered, glacially dissected island, 215 km (134 mi)long, 90 km (56 mi) wide and 15,700 km2 (6,062 sq mi) in area, lying a short way off the northwest end of Ellsworth Land, Antarctica. It is the third largest island of Antarctica, after Alexander Island and Berkner Island. The island was discovered from the air by Rear Admiral Byrd on February 27, 1940, who named it for W. Harris Thurston, New York textile manufacturer, designer of the windproof “Byrd Cloth” and sponsor of Antarctic expeditions.
Originally charted as a peninsula, the feature was not recognized an island until 1960.
Originally charted as a peninsula, the feature was not recognized an island until 1960.
Another square(ish) iceberg
Eroded iceberg in sea ice
Some of the cloudier conditions
More sea ice
ATM T6 wide scan sea ice elevation data plot (2 meter full scale)
Detail from the first plot showing the flat section in the upper quarter of the above plot
ATM T6 wide scan sea ice elevation data plot (4 meter full scale)
Detail from the first plot showing the open water lead at 268.35 degrees longitude of the above plot