OIB: Across the Ross

As summer temperatures heat up in the Northern Hemisphere, we look back at Operation IceBridge’s most recent Antarctic campaign. In November of last year, IceBridge researchers completed the first-ever basin-wide airborne survey of ice in the Ross Sea. This survey, known as the Ross Sea Fluxgate mission, aimed to help researchers track the movement of sea ice in the Ross Sea.

After an early morning weather briefing and takeoff from the sea ice runway at the National Science Foundation's McMurdo Station in Antarctica, the NASA P-3 flew a survey that took researchers across the Ross Sea basin and back. The purpose of this mission was to set up a pair of parallel lines known as a flux gate that scientists can use to study how ice moves out through the Ross Sea. In addition, IceBridge's instruments collected data on sea ice freeboard – the height of ice above the ocean surface – which can be used to calculate sea ice thickness and volume.

For more information about Operation IceBridge, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/icebridge