2008 Woodie Awards
Mission success, NSERC takes to the Arctic
In an effort to measure melting sea ice, UND, NASA airplane returns from far north.
Michael Thomas
Issue date: 8/29/08 Section: News
Flying in a four-engine DC-8 jet aircraft at just 350 feet above a sheet of ice, for over 11 hours in one of the coldest regions of the earth where the weather and terrain is unforgivable may not seem like your average job, but for Rick Shetter and his team, it's just another day at the office.
The UND operated aircraft recently returned to its home base in Palmdale, Calif. after a nearly three-week mission to the Arctic where it flew five science missions to study sea ice formation and melting. In cooperation with the University of Colorado, NASA, NOAA and several members of the National Suborbital Education and Research Center (NSERC) team, the plane took off on August 7 enroute to its base of operations in Sweden.
The NSERC aircraft flew missions along the sea ice shelf in the Arctic where several instruments aboard the plane took measurements of radiation, atmospheric conditions, and other readings to determine how these factors contribute to the formation and loss of sea ice.
The mission took place in August, as it is a period of climate transition in the Arctic region. This, coupled with variability in temperatures and varying atmospheric conditions has a dramatic effect on the sea ice coverage that the team aimed to study.
"This is a mission funded by NASA and other grants as a part of the International Polar Year activities … to see what happens in the Polar Regions and the atmospheric happenings that have affected that area of the globe," said Shetter, director of NSERC. "We studied the formation and loss of sea ice and the effect of radiation on the ice. In the airplane, we had radiometers, particle detectors, microwave radiometers and other instruments that can actually look into the water and ice in various forms to understand what has formed as well as see how old the ice is."
Shetter said that the research was to see what effect, if any, global warming and climate change has had on the ice shelf in the Arctic.
A day in the life
The UND operated aircraft recently returned to its home base in Palmdale, Calif. after a nearly three-week mission to the Arctic where it flew five science missions to study sea ice formation and melting. In cooperation with the University of Colorado, NASA, NOAA and several members of the National Suborbital Education and Research Center (NSERC) team, the plane took off on August 7 enroute to its base of operations in Sweden.
The NSERC aircraft flew missions along the sea ice shelf in the Arctic where several instruments aboard the plane took measurements of radiation, atmospheric conditions, and other readings to determine how these factors contribute to the formation and loss of sea ice.
The mission took place in August, as it is a period of climate transition in the Arctic region. This, coupled with variability in temperatures and varying atmospheric conditions has a dramatic effect on the sea ice coverage that the team aimed to study.
"This is a mission funded by NASA and other grants as a part of the International Polar Year activities … to see what happens in the Polar Regions and the atmospheric happenings that have affected that area of the globe," said Shetter, director of NSERC. "We studied the formation and loss of sea ice and the effect of radiation on the ice. In the airplane, we had radiometers, particle detectors, microwave radiometers and other instruments that can actually look into the water and ice in various forms to understand what has formed as well as see how old the ice is."
Shetter said that the research was to see what effect, if any, global warming and climate change has had on the ice shelf in the Arctic.
A day in the life
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