[GLIMS] EO-1... happy story ending (and a new, brief opportunity)

[Jeffrey]

Dear GLIMS colleagues,I have just heard from Stuart Frye that the EO-1 mission is apt to be ending soon, with end of imaging likely around January 2017. (But that's not officially announced or decided yet.) There might be a possibility of a  robotic refueling/orbit boost maneuver that would give the spacecraft a longer life, but this seems unlikely. Not only is the orbit decaying, but it is precessing so that equator crossings are soon to be about 8 AM. 
Though the headline of this news is that the mission is likely soon to end, the 8 AM equator crossing presents an opportunity as well as a limitation on glacier and ice sheet imaging.  The opportunity is that for certain ice masses-- low sloping ice caps for instance, some unique image opportunities may exist so long as the area is not in shadow/night.  Low sun angles may reveal interesting details that might not have been imaged clearly by other satellites (and EO-1) when solar incidence angles are higher. Stu Frye has urged the small group I am workshopping with right now to get our EO-1 imaging requests in.  I am taking the liberty to pass this notice and solicitation on to you, though Stu Frye has approved of my sending this message, so he won't be too surprised if many of you send in Data Acquisition Requests (I hope so). Of course shadows will be long, and many areas will be dark, depending on what season and latitude you request (there being maybe just 0.3 years left of imaging life).
Time is short, so if you have an ice cap of interest, get in your imaging request.See the DAR form on:  https://eo1.usgs.gov
Sincerely,Jeff Kargel 		 	   		  
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