Operation IceBridge is an airborne science mission to study Earth’s polar ice. It is the largest and most extensive airborne survey of Earth’s ice ever flown, and is a key component of NASA’s ongoing research into global climate change. The operation began in 2009, and has since flown yearly campaigns over both the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
During each campaign, a team of scientists and support personnel fly aboard one or more aircraft carrying a suite of sophisticated instruments designed to collect data on the thickness, elevation, surface roughness and other physical characteristics of sea ice, glaciers and ice sheets. In addition to the measurements made by IceBridge instruments, the campaigns also include flights specifically designed to collect data used to calibrate satellite sensors.
The data collected by IceBridge are critical for understanding how Earth’s polar regions are changing in response to a warming climate. They are also essential for validating computer models used to predict future changes in sea level rise, as well as for planning future missions to study the poles.
IceBridge flight campaigns typically last around six weeks, during which time the team flies multiple sorties from bases in Greenland, Iceland, Canada, Antarctica and South America. Each sortie consists of multiple legs lasting anywhere from two hours to 12 hours apiece; depending on conditions, some legs may be as long as 20 hours. In total, IceBridge scientists have flown more than 175 million miles (280 million kilometers) – equivalent to seven trips around the world – while collecting nearly 50 terabytes of data.