Operation IceBridge Underway: NASA Begins Unprecedented Survey of Antarctic Sea Ice

NASA's mission dedicated to measuring Antarctic sea ice is underway, launching from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) McMurdo Station located on Ross island.

The new outpost represents a change in venues from Punta Arenas Chile -- a shift researchers say will allow them to survey previously unexplored areas.

"Antarctica is a big place and there are many science targets for us to hit," Tom Wagner, cryosphere program scientist at NASA's headquarters in Washington, said in a statement back in August.

One area made available to scientists as a result of the switch is the Siple Coast located on the edge of Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf.

"We know from spaceborne ice surface velocity measurements that some of the Siple Coast ice streams are changing," said Michael Studinger, IceBridge project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "But since 2009, we have had no laser altimeter measurements of ice surface elevations in this area."

Researchers plan on on flying over areas of sea ice in and around the Ross Sea in attempt to gather the first airborne ice thickness measurements. They will also survey beneath the Ross Ice Shelf using an instrument capable of detecting even slight changes in gravitational fields beneath the aircraft. In doing so, scientists will be able to piece together the depth and shape of water cavities located beneath floating ice.

Switching mission headquarters across continents was a difficult operation in and of itself, officials note, with preparations ranging from the most basic, such as ensuring food and housing for scientists, to the highly technical, including determing whether IceBridge's presence would interfere with other projects carried out at the NSF base.

"The initial challenge was trying to comprehend and identify all of the requirements, constraints and factors of operating science instruments and a wheeled aircraft in a complex and remote environment," said Christy Hansen, IceBridge's project manager at NASA Goddard. "We've been working on this in the background during our last two campaigns."

IceBridge began in 2009 when NASA's ice-monitoring satellite, known as ICESat, ceased collecting data. The mission will continue to keep a careful watch on changes in polar ice until the next version of ICESat is launched in three years.