OIB ended a very successful week with a coordinated mission, combining with ESA’s CryoVEx program operating a Norlandair Twin Otter and AWI’s Polar 5 aircraft from the PAMARCMiP project. Those two aircraft were grounded by poor weather at Alert yesterday, but joined NASA 426 over a CryoSat2 orbit track north of Greenland today. As all three aircraft completed the line, the CryoSat 2 satellite passed overhead on its orbit. The combine data set should be of great value to all participants.
The weather was generally good over the mission line today, with only a few hazy patches all instruments were able to deal with, and once again all instrument teams reported good data collection. The ATM T5 lidar took additional data during both high altitude transits over the west Greenland ice cap.
No flights this weekend, tomorrow some instrument and aircraft work may occur, and a “hard down” rest day Sunday.
North west Greenland Mountains south of Petermann Glacier en-route to the sea ice
South wall of Petermann Glacier from 17,000′
Petermann Glacier and calving front (left bottom)
Looking aft at Petermann Glacier and calving front
North coastline of Greenland heading onto the sea ice
Sea Ice
View from the cockpit of the encounter with the AWI Polar 5 and Norlandair Twin Otter. (NASA/Jeremy Harbeck)
Close-up shot of the Twin Otter. (NASA/Jeremy Harbeck)
DMS image of the Twin Otter passing underneath. (NASA/Dennis Gearhart)