© NASA/Michael StudingerNASA’s Operation IceBridge mission comprises the largest airborne research campaign ever flown over Earth’s polar region.
Researchers are flying a suite of scientific instruments on two planes from a base of operations in Punta Arenas, Chile: a DC-8 operated by NASA and a Gulfstream V (G-V) operated by the National Science Foundation and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
The G-V will fly through early November. The DC-8, which completed its first science flight on Wednesday, will fly through mid-November.
98% of Antarctica is covered in ice. Scientists are concerned about how quickly key features are thinning, such as Pine Island Glacier, which rests on bedrock below sea level. Better understanding this type of change is crucial to projecting impacts like sea-level rise.
"With a third year of data-gathering underway, we are starting to build our own record of change," said Michael Studinger, IceBridge project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "With IceBridge, our aim is to understand what the world's major ice sheets could contribute to sea-level rise. To understand that you have to record how ice sheets and glaciers are changing over time."
While scientists in recent years have produced newer, more detailed data about the ice sheet's surface, the topography of the rocky surface beneath the ice sheet remains unknown in many places. Without knowing the topography of the bedrock, it is impossible to know exactly how much ice sits on top of Antarctica.
A gravimeter aboard the DC-8 will detect subtle differences in gravity to map the ocean floor beneath floating ice shelves. Data on bathymetry, or ocean depth, and ocean circulation from previous IceBridge campaigns are helping explain why some glaciers are changing so quickly.
Flights take off from Punta Arenas and cross the Southern Ocean to reach destinations including West Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula and coastal areas. Each lasts 10 to 11 hours.
"We will be re-surveying our previous flight lines to see how much glaciers and ice sheets have changed, and we'll cover new areas to establish a baseline for future years and the ICESat-2 mission in 2016," Studinger said.
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Sea Ice shelves are floating, and if they break away or get melted by undersea volcanoes, the sea will not rise.
This is because the ice is floating and displacing water already.
How fast is the slope of sea level rise/fall?
A few millimeters per year ( about 1/8 "). OMG...run for it.
Now, the Antarctic Peninsula is warming, but there appears to be some 20 volcanoes on it, though it's quite difficult to tell under all that massive ice.
Antarctica is a horribly cold place. A lady scientist down there got sick and has been waiting 6 months to get rescued. The place is also notorious for claiming the lives of Scott and his party.