Experiment preparations
From Katharine (UCL) at Resolute Bay, northern Canada on 8 April After taking a look around the Polar-5 aircraft hanger Rosie, Justin, Seymour, Christian and I headed off to the warehouse to work out...
View ArticleNot your typical Saturday afternoon
From Seymour (UCL) at Resolute Bay, northern Canada on 9 April After yesterday’s rather gentle foray onto the ice in nice weather to lay out our two practice ground targets we returned to find out...
View ArticleLincoln Sea and Alert base
Envisat Advanced Synthetic Apertur Radar image of the Lincoln Sea and Alert base, where sea-ice validation activities are now starting in support of ESA’s CryoSat ice mission.
View ArticleNASA IceBridge – clear but bumpy over southeast Greenland
From Michael (NASA) Greenland ice sheet, 11 April On April 11, NASA's IceBridge campaign finally got the clear weather necessary to fly over glaciers in southeast Greenland. Typically, this area is...
View ArticleFollowing the drift
From Mark at ESA-ESTEC in the Netherlands, 12 April Thinking of the team out in the high Arctic, I've been checking up on the general ice conditions in the Arctic, and around the field site off Alert...
View ArticleGrounded
From Katharine (UCL), at Alert on 12 April Over the last two days, we haven't had the weather we were hoping for. We need clear skies so that the pilots, Troy and Derek, can find suitable landing sites...
View ArticleASIRAS arrives in Alert
From Malcolm (ESA), in Alert, 13 April The whole team was more than pleased – relieved and happy might be the right description – to see Henriette and her team from the Danish Technical University...
View ArticleGetting off the ground
From Katharine (UCL), on the sea ice, 14 April Today our pilots, Troy and Derek, gave us the all clear to fly and begin our experiment for real, setting out the corner reflectors and transect lines....
View ArticleSpring cruise through the sea ice
From Angelika (NPI), Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard, 15 April An international group of seven sea-ice scientists together with polar bear and ivory gull researchers left Longyearbyen on 4 April...
View ArticleSea ice conditions around Alert
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...
View ArticleGreat day for sea-ice research as ESA and NASA work together
From Michael (NASA), over Alert, 15 April Today’s flight was a coordinated effort between ESA’s CryoVEx campaign and NASA’s Operation IceBridge. The CryoVEx 2011 teams are currently operating from...
View ArticleKeeping CryoSat on track
From Robert (ESA), 18 April, currently in the Lake District, UK With all the excitement going on in the Arctic, one might think it’s business as usual back in Europe operating CryoSat’s main payload,...
View ArticleFabulous photos of Greenland courtesy of NASA IceBridge
From Michael (NASA), Greenland, 19 April Although not flying for CryoSat today, the following extract and photos from Michael Studinger's report provides some insight into the daily NASA IceBridge...
View ArticleTime to bid farewell to Alert
From Katharine (UCL), Alert, 19 April Time to leave Alert now, but here's a quick update on the last couple of days here on the ice before we head off home. We were all very happy to have got the break...
View ArticleGetting ready for a six-week stint living on the Greenland ice sheet
From Santiago (University of Edinburgh), UK, 22 April Following the success of the first leg of the campaign in Canada, activities are about to continue over the Greenland ice sheet in a few days. This...
View ArticleNASA IceBridge flies Greenland EGIG line for CryoSat
From Michael (NASA), Greenland, 26 April Today was our last opportunity to fly a science mission from Kangerlussuaq and the weather was favourable for Geikie 01, our last remaining high priority...
View ArticleKicking off a new round of measurements in Svalbard
From Tania (ESA), Svalbard, 28 April I've arrived in a relatively balmy Svalbard; it's actually only 0°C, so not that cold. From the plane, I was able to watch the transition from a green snow-free...
View ArticleBack cruising through the sea ice
From Angelika (NPI), Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard, 29 April After a week's break between cruises, the Norwegian Polar Institute sea ice group is out again for more work on the ice north of Svalbard....
View ArticleAustfonna ground control ready and waiting
From Thomas (UIO), Svalbard, 29 April As various teams gather to kick off the measurement campaign around Svalbard, bad weather has delayed today's flights. Nevertheless, all the equipment is in place...
View ArticleMonitoring sea-ice conditions around Svalbard
From Mark (ESA), NL, 30 April Over the next several days from 28 April–16 May, Arctic ice-thickness surveys will be taking place north of Svalbard, along CryoSat ground tracks. Airborne measurements of...
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