Posted on 02/11/2016 by Kelsea
The University of Leeds Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) lead the vital ground based field work conducted as part of the KAREN campaign which took place in October 2016. Andrew Shepherd and I (Anna Hogg)...
Posted on 27/03/2014 by Honora
Polar Explorers dream about making it to the North Pole on foot, but to do it in one day over the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean –you’ve got to be kidding? That would be like having...
Posted on 22/01/2013 by Honora
From Daniel Steinhage (AWI) and Steen Savstrup (DTU Space), Antarctica. Daniel and Steen update us on their challenges of flying over Antarctica to get to the Concordia station and starting the DOMECair campaign. The aim of this novel campaign is to collect measurements that will validate ESA’s Earth observation SMOS water mission and GOCE gravity mission. 13 January The overcast weather at Kohnen station finally cleared today so we were able to leave the Novo airbase, or Novo Runway as it’s commonly called, and head towards the South Pole. We had flown to Novo and met the AWI plane that we will use to take measurements for the campaign. The map below...
Posted on 12/12/2012 by Honora
From Chris Derksen (Environment Canada) Inuvik, Canada Although the schedule for the final preparations was very tight, activities are proceeding well for a SnowSAR flight in Canada. Over the past week, scientists from Environment Canada have been in the field near Inuvik, in the Northwest Territories. As expected, the environment near Inuvik in December has posed some challenges – the Sun does not rise above the horizon at any point in the day, so between 11:00 and 16:00 it’s just twilight. Temperatures have been very cold, not climbing above –30°C and reaching as low as –38°C. In spite of these conditions, measurements are proceeding well – Lidar scans to determine snow depth...
Posted on 28/03/2012 by Honora
From Malcolm (ESA), Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, 28 March After months of preparation and hundreds or even maybe even a thousand emails, the 2012 CryoSat Validation Experiment otherwise known as ‘CryoVEx 2012’ finally kicks-off this week across the Arctic. Together with NASA colleagues and participating scientists from the USA, Canada and Europe, some remarkable airborne flights are planned later this week and early the week after. One of the highlights could come as early as tomorrow when the CryoSat satellite will pass over the Arctic Ocean from the north at about 7 km per second and pass almost directly over the Canadian military base Alert located at the northern tip of Ellesmere island. This...
Posted on 15/04/2011 by Daniel
From Mark (ESA), in Noordwijk, NL Here are a couple of satellite images showing the current sea-ice conditions around Alert in northern Canada. The first is an AVHRR image from NOAA, courtesy of DMI/Polar View, and shows a large area perspective of the Lincoln Sea (upper part), Nares Strait (lower left) and Northern Greenland (lower centre). The marked box indicates the location where the following image focuses. A large-scale fracture pattern and relatively dark shear lines can be observed running through the sea-ice pack. They are caused by the sea-ice drift pushing ice against the coast of Northern Greenland. A relatively dark zone of divergence or opening occurs where ice escapes eastwards...
Posted on 08/04/2011 by Daniel
From Malcolm (ESA), NL on 8 April Just leaving ESA in the Netherlands for my flight to Alert in northern Canada to start the campaign – which has to be one of the biggest I’ve organised in my 10 years at ESA. The two planes we have dedicated to the campaign will arrive this weekend along with other team members from Europe and Canada. So, hopefully we’ll be kicking off with the first flights on Monday. We’ve got a Twin Otter arriving from the Technical University of Denmark that carries the ASIRAS instrument. ASIRAS is an airborne instrument that was developed specifically to mimic the radar altimeter on the CryoSat satellite. In...