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[Narrator] The operation IceBridge 2010 arctic
campaign is off to a flying start. Since

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arriving in Greenland on March 22nd the
mission scientists engineers and crew

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have already taken off on several
science flights over the region's

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glaciers and sea ice. Flying aboard
NASA's DC-8 aircraft outfitted with an

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array of science instruments. Scientists
are monitoring changes to the region's

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ice. Even peering below the surface of
some glaciers an observation not

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currently possible from satellites. The
first priority of this campaign is to

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survey Arctic sea ice. Which reaches its
maximum extent just as spring begins. The

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amount of sea ice covering the Arctic at
the end of each winter is an important

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indication of the health of the Arctic
and Earth's climate system. [Sonntag] Greenland

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because of its presence and Antarctica
all the ice masses together act as

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access buffer climate. And so if if they
were to start to melt which which many

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people believe that they are. Then the
eventual effect will be a warmer climate over all.

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[Narrator] Over the course of this spring's five-week
campaign, researchers will make a total

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of 10 to 12 science flights. Continuing
to monitor the most sensitive and

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critical areas of this dynamic polar
region.

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[music]