A successful “Sea Ice- North Pole Transect” (adjusted the western leg for a CyroSat-2 satellite pass under flight) was completed today, in favorable wether conditions. The sea ice encountered north of Ellesmere Island was fairly solid with few leads. Open leads were encountered more frequently nearer the Pole, and then less frequently north of Greenland on our return. As always, crossing the North Pole is interesting as a mission milestone (the sea ice pretty much looks the same as anywhere else).
All OIB sea ice remote sensing instruments reported good data coverage, with clear weather allowing complete DMS camera and ATM lidar systems data over all flight lines.
Weather is promising for another OIB mission tomorrow.
Sea ice photos, and ATM T6 lidar data plots below.
Closest position to the North Pole as shown on the ATM display
ATM T6 wide scan elevation plot of sea ice as we passed within about 700 feet of the North Pole.
