Ice Bridge Blog

The ice in this valley is moving towards the coast

Michael Studinger, Instrument Co-Principal Investigator, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory:

PUNTA ARENAS, Chile–The weather forecast for our survey over the Larsen C Ice Shelf looks good. Given the difficult weather over the past couple of days this is a welcome change. After studying satellite images and computer models and talking to the meteorologist at the Punta Arenas airport we decide to fly. We will follow the flow of ice from Antarctica’s interior to the ocean where the ice breaks into icebergs and eventually melts.

The flight will take us through an almost complete tour of the Antarctic cryosphere. Our tour begins over the small ice caps of the Antarctic Peninsula. The snow and ice that forms these ice caps eventually flows downhill through steep valleys, reaching glaciers and ice streams.

Glaciers flowing down steep valleys transport ice from the interior of Antarctica to the Larsen Ice Shelf near the coast

I am seated in the cockpit behind our two pilots to get a better view of the scenery. We are descending into a steep valley filled with ice on its way to the remnants of the Larsen B Ice Shelf that broke apart a few years ago. The ice here forms a huge floating surface that appears endless. Warm seawater lies below the ice; we are here to study how it melts the ice shelf.

The ice flowing into the valleys is pushing the ice shelves away.  Eventually huge ice chunks break off to form icebergs. Our next survey line takes us to the edge of the ice shelf where several gigantic icebergs can be seen floating in the distance, along with pools of open water. After crisscrossing what’s left of Larsen C we head back to the crest of the Antarctic Peninsula and repeat a different survey line. Each time I look out of the window I see a breathtaking but fragile landscape.

Our tour ends at the edge of Larsen C Ice, where sea ice meets open water.

Heading home.

Nick Frearson, Gravimeter Instrument Team, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory:

PUNTA ARENAS, Chile–Not all rides in the DC-8 are smooth and effortless. Our flight down the Thwaites Glacier was a race against weather, with the stomach-churning quality of a carnival ride. Both the Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers flow into the Amundsen Sea. This section of Antarctica, along the western coastline just below the continent’s peninsular arm, has been an intense focus of the ICE Bridge mission.

Icebergs that have broken off Thwaites Glacier might look like stepping stones in this image, but up close these icebergs loom approximately 100 feet above the water. The open water around the icebergs can remain open throughout austral summer, yet just beyond, the sea ice remains as far as you can see.

A photo of Mt. Murphy, an 8 million year old shield volcano rising some 1,800 meters above the ice sheet.

Mt. Murphy was visible as we flew over Pine Island Glacier and its grounding line, the point where the glacier transitions from land to sea. We flew just inland of the grounding line to measure the glacier’s ice surface elevation with the ATM laser and the ice depth with the radar. These measurements will tell us how much ice is crossing the grounding line.

We had been given old area maps for guidance as we flew over the ice. It was startling to see bays with floating ice-shelves on the map now appear as open water. One bay over from Pine Island, an ice shelf appeared to have almost completely disappeared; what had once jutted prominently into the sea was now a thin ribbon of bright white glued tightly to the coastline. The wind had long since blown away any vestige of the old ice-shelf . Flying over this ‘ghost’ ice shelf is a reminder of the rapid changes taking place here.

Skimming over sea ice in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica

Nick Frearson, Gravimeter Instrument Team, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory:

PUNTA ARENAS, Chile–Skimming across the Weddell Sea at 250 miles per hour I am finally on the way to Antarctica. Even though my visit to the white continent will be at a height of 1500 ft I still feel a sense of ‘homecoming’, as if I am back for a field season on the peninsula.

Sea ice is the target today, measuring sea ice thickness and cover. Peering out the plane window I am amazed at the beauty of the sea ice - large clean slabs of reflective white. I can feel the pull, the same magnetism that must have affected the early polar explorers bringing them back again and again.

The Weddell Sea and Antarctic exploration are linked in history. The image of Ernest Shackleton’s ship, The Endurance, caught in an ice pack in the Weddell Sea is perhaps the most iconic of this area. Shackleton’s 1914 Trans-Antarctic Expedition was intended to be a march across the continent from the Weddell Sea coast through the South Pole and ending at the Ross Sea. The Endurance was crushed by the Weddell Sea ice, never reaching the coast to launch Shackelton and his men on their intended journey. Would Shackleton face the same fate if he were to set out today? Would the ice pack in the Weddell Sea close in with the same ferocity capturing his ship?

Check this link to see how Columbia scientists have looked at the role weather played a century ago in both Shackleton and Nansen’s explorations in Antarctica.

http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/blog/2009/10/09/polar-survival-a-century-ago-good-planning-or-just-good-weather/

PUNTA ARENAS, Chile–After flying for several hours over a windswept Southern Ocean, the mission director announces that we will be slowly descending towards Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier. Just below are the Hudson Mountains, a small group of extinct volcanoes poking through the ice.

Hudson Mountains on Pine Island Glacier

As we approach our survey area, John Sonntag from NASA’s flight facility on Wallops Island and I watch the navigation display and admire the the pilots’ precision as they steer the giant NASA DC-8 aircraft to the start of our first survey line.

We are here to measure the glacier’s ice surface with lasers, its bottom with radar and estimate the depth of the water below it with an instrument that measures the gravity pull from above the glacier.

All systems are functioning well and we are excited about the data coming in. The computer screen mounted on University of Kansas’s radar rack is a popular in-flight gathering spot since it provides a real-time view of the radar data that allows us to “see” the bottom of the glacier while we fly over it.

The structures we see are quite amazing and we toss around ideas about what this tells us about how the glacier is responding to warming temperatures. Science can be so much fun! After crisscrossing Pine Island Glacier several times, it’s time to head home to Punta Arenas. Weather permitting we will be back tomorrow.

Calving front of Pine Island Glacier, where icebergs are born

Snow-covered crevasses near the edge of Pine Island Glacier. Small meltwater ponds are visible even though it's early in the Antarctic summer.

Flying over the floating part of Pine Island Glacier. Winds have blown away the sea ice to create an area of open water called a polynya.

Pine Island Glacier, heavily crevassed. Measurements are best collected from a low-flying plane or satellites because traveling over the surface is so difficult.

Nick Frearson as 'Night Watchman' for the gravimeter.

Nick Frearson, Gravimeter Instrument Team, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory:

PUNTA ARENAS, Chile–I have become a night watchman of sorts. The gravimeter we’re using in our flights over Antarctica must remain powered at all times, so between flights I hole up in the old terminal next to the aircraft watching, …and watching. We won’t be on the first few flights, so our focus for now is to make sure the gravimeter functions smoothly in the air. We have rigged up a light in the window of the plane connected to the gravimeter rack so I can tell instantly if we lose power. I can also see if the constant wind whipping through the area rips any of the cables loose.

For our first mission to Getz Ice Shelf on Friday we had cool temperatures of 40 ° F and a BRISK wind of 40 knots. The plan is to start with the most difficult flights– areas that are farthest away or with the worst weather– early in the season. Getz Ice Shelf lies along the fringe of Marie Byrd Land and creeps into the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica. This eleven hour flight will cover a long stretch of sea ice, onto Getz ice shelf, and then up the Davitz glacier.

Follow our flights  through twitter updates linked to our icebridge webpage www.ldeo.columbia.edu/icebridge

Test flight from Dryden

Nick Frearson, Gravimeter Instrument Team, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory:

The flight engineer ticks off instruments over the intercom. “LVIS, ready.” “Gravity, ready.” “DACOM, ready.”

We are about to take the DC-8 on its first test flight before Antarctica. The pilots, clipped and professional, have just described the day’s flight plans and the plane is bustling with people making last minute adjustments.

Suddenly we are ready to go. The city of Palmdale drops away as the plane climbs and circles. The dried up lake bed that is home to Dryden and Edwards Airforce Base spreads out below, giving us a ‘Google Earth’ view of the area.

We head west over the hills and Los Angeles, indistinct through the haze, and out over the Pacific Ocean. The gravimeter in front of me and Stefan purrs quietly . The aim of the flight is to test and calibrate the laser altimeter, LVIS (Lasar Vegetation Imaging Sensor), which will measure the surface elevation of the ice sheet.

At 28,000 feet we perform a series of maneuvers to sweep the laser beam back and forth beneath the aircraft. The LVIS engineer is talking to the flight engineer over the intercom while he aligns the instrument. I can hear static, whistles and pops over their voices but nothing that appears to be interfering with our instruments.

To my left an instrument samples the air as we fly along. Melissa, who built the equipment a few days ago, watches pressure gauges and tweaks the dials. Outside, I can see Catalina Island surrounded by clear water. The LVIS engineer announces that he is happy with the laser so we turn for home.

We pass over the smog of L.A., mountains still scarred from the recent forest fires and the Mojave Desert, where the clear air allows you to see for miles. Back on the ground we head for flight debrief and Sean downloads the gravity and GPS data that will tell us how well the gravimeter performed. First indications are looking good.

Nick Frearson at home in a snow hole near Mount Erebus, Antarctica, in 2009

Nick Frearson, Gravimeter Instrument Team, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory:

I’m a senior engineer at Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, and my role in Operation Ice Bridge is to work with the gravimeter. This instrument can see beneath ice sheets into the water and bedrock below to reveal the ice sheet’s hidden contours – critical information for predicting how the ice will change as the climate warms.

The poles are an important indicator of change. There you can see how sensitive the environment is and how easy it is to upset its delicate balance. What happens to ice sheets at the poles has repercussions for sea level and climate around the world.

I have traveled to both poles and enjoy the wildlife, solitude and shear expansiveness of these amazing places that remind me constantly of how fragile life is. I enjoy thinking on my feet and solving problems with limited resources — so different from our normal civilized lives.

On my last trip to Antarctica, we mapped a huge and remote ice-covered mountain range in the middle of the continent, trying to understand how and when the ice sheets formed. Inside my tent I could hear the constant whispering of the wind over the snow, mixed with the music of Radiohead, Coldplay, Snow Patrol and Imogen Heap.

I miss my friends when I’m away. Two summers ago, I went to Canada’s Ellesmere Island with my good colleague, Michael Studinger, to test gravity instruments near the North Pole. The island is stunning with windswept hillsides leading down to frozen fjords. I walked for miles across the island, observing Musk Ox and wolves go about their lives. Back at camp, I enjoyed listening to other scientists talk about their travels.

I hope that you enjoy reading about our exploits flying over Antarctica as much as I’ll enjoy taking part in them.

Michael Studinger

Michael Studinger, Instrument Co-Principal Investigator, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory:

The scale and style of Operation Ice Bridge will be a new experience for me. I’ve been involved in airborne research for more than a decade using ice-penetrating radar systems, airborne laser scanning, gravity and magnetics to learn more about the polar ice caps and how they behave.

In previous expeditions we have flown over Antarctica in small Twin Otter planes and operated out of remote field camps, at high elevations and in extreme cold. This means living and working in tents for months at temperatures around -20 to -40°F and flying in unpressurized aircraft at high altitude. There are no showers and only limited communications with the outside world in these remote field camps.

The Ice Bridge campaign will be very different. We’ll be flying non-stop on NASA’s DC-8 plane in and out of Punta Arenas, Chile. It feels strange to be flying over Antarctica without actually setting foot on the continent and experiencing its cold, breathtaking beauty first hand. During Ice Bridge we will have to make do with admiring the polar landscape from a heated and pressurized aircraft cabin.

I am a research scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York. My background is airborne geophysics which I use to study the ice caps and the Earth’s crust in polar regions. For Ice Bridge, I’ll be involved in measuring the Earth’s gravity field to estimate how deep the water is beneath floating glaciers along the Antarctic Peninsula.

I’m looking forward to a relaxed airborne campaign, where you leave from Punta Arenas in the morning and return to civilization in the evening.