DSC_4252
Mission: Operation IceBridge 2010
With the sun on the horizon, NASA’s DC-8 flew over Antarctica’s Weddell Sea on Oct. 28 during a Fall 2010 Operation IceBridge mission to map sea ice and underfly ESA’s CryoSat-2 satellite. The flight crew and scientists climbed aboard for what would be a 10.9-hour flight. Almost four hours of that time was spent collecting data in four long low-altitude tracks over the Thwaites Glacier and Pine Island Bay, two each under the previous ground tracks of NASA’s ICESat and ESA’s CryoSat-2 satellites.
The converted jetliner was aloft again for an 11-hour-plus flight, with the main objective to measure the ice thickness and surface elevations of the numerous tributaries feeding into the main Pine Island Glacier. With all seven specialized instruments operating, data was collected while flying at 1,500 feet above ground level on four arch-shaped lines centered around the outlet of the glacier over the course of four hours.
October 28, 2010
NASA / Jim Yungel