See Also
IceBridge Data at NSIDC
This product Home page contains tools for ordering and working with the data, information regarding the availability of data products, how to obtain guide documentation, FAQs, and other related IceBridge information.
Related Resources
Operation IceBridge
The NASA Earth Science Project Office Operation IceBridge site.
ICESat/GLAS project page at NSIDC
The main page of the ICESat/GLAS project.
ICESat/GLAS at NASA
The main ICESat/GLAS page at NASA Cryospheric Sciences Branch.
DAAC Data Projects: Aircraft
Operation IceBridge
Operation IceBridge employs several aircraft for missions in Antarctica, Greenland, and Alaska.
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) DC-8 aircraft operates as a flying science laboratory on long range missions over Antarctica. Instruments include LIDAR, radar, and altimeter, such as Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM), Multichannel Coherent Radar Depth Sounder (MCorDS), Ku-Band Radar Altimeter, and others. During 2009, missions covered West Antarctica glaciers and ice sheets, as well as areas around Pine Island Glacier and the Antarctic Peninsula.
The NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) P-3B aircraft is a four-engine turboprop with a set of instruments similar to those used on the DC-8. In Spring 2009, the P-3B flew missions over Greenland. During Spring 2010, the aircraft is flying campaigns from Kangerlussuaq and Thule, Greenland.
Other IceBridge aircraft include the Ultima Thule Outfitters DeHavilland DHC-3 Single Otter aircraft with the Geophysical Institute University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) laser altimetry system flown over southeast Alaska, and the Basler BT-67 aircraft flown over Antarctica equipped with the University of Texas (UT) HiCARS ice penetrating radar, UT Reigl LD-90 laser distance meter, UT Geometrics 823-A magnetometer, USAF Sigma Space photon counting lidar, and NGA BGM-3 gravity meter.
The Operation IceBridge mission, initiated in 2009, bridges the gap between NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat-I) mission and the upcoming ICESat-II mission. NSIDC manages data for products derived from Operation IceBridge aircraft missions, and implements tools and services extending the uses of IceBridge data products.
Page last updated: 01/09/12
