Operation icebridge: Using instrumented aircraft to bridge the observational gap between icesat and icesat-2

Abstract

Operation IceBridge, a six-year NASA mission, is the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown. Data collected during IceBridge will help scientists bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), in orbit from 2003 to 2009, and ICESat-2, planned for launch in late 2015, making IceBridge critical for ensuring a continuous series of observations. Operation IceBridge is using airborne instruments to map Arctic and Antarctic areas once a year, building on two decades of repeat airborne measurements of rapidly changing areas in the Arctic. Operation IceBridge is also producing critical data that cannot be measured from space such as ice thickness measurements. The first Operation IceBridge flights were conducted in boreal spring 2009 over Greenland and the boreal fall 2009 over Antarctica. Other smaller airborne surveys around the world are also part of NASA's Operation IceBridge campaign.