Polar Perspective: NASA DC-8 Monitors Antarctica's Meltdown from the Skies
Monday, October 26, 2009 - 15:28
in Earth & Climate
A DC-8 rumbles down the runway in Punta Arenas, Chile, bound once again for the fickle weather of Antarctica. Chock full of scientific equipment, the nearly 48-meter-long plane--the core of NASA's Operation ICE Bridge--will fly as low as 300 meters above the glaciers and valleys of West Antarctica as well as the ice just off shore. Employing gravimeters, laser altimeters, even radar, the plane will attempt to get a handle on the rapid thinning of the Antarctic ice sheet --as well as fill in for the aging ICESat 1 satellite that is soon to be defunct. [More]