2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
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Interferometric SAR Ice<br />
Mapping in Greenland<br />
<strong>Science</strong> Focus:<br />
HQ Sponsors:<br />
PIs:<br />
Cryosphere<br />
Kaye, Albertson<br />
Zebker, Moller<br />
On May 1, <strong>2009</strong>, the <strong>NASA</strong> Gulfstream III<br />
(<strong>NASA</strong>502) departed Dryden Flight Research Center<br />
on its first deployment, a challenging mission to<br />
measure ice dynamics in Greenland and Iceland<br />
using first a Ka-Band and then an L-Band synthetic<br />
aperture radar. The aircraft and crew returned on<br />
June 17, having accomplished all primary and all<br />
secondary objectives. The two radar instruments<br />
successfully collected data over wetlands and flowing<br />
water in North Dakota, open ocean and ice packs,<br />
glaciers in Greenland and Iceland, wetland dynamics<br />
in the Florida everglades, coastal zone changes in the<br />
Louisiana gulf coast, and levees along the Mississippi<br />
River. In 31 sorties, encompassing over 170 flight<br />
hours, the DFRC/JPL crew collected approximately<br />
6 Tb of radar data, providing the science community<br />
with unique views of the dynamics of snow and ice<br />
during the arctic melt, as well as a number of other<br />
dynamic environmental processes.<br />
The deployment began with the Ka-Band radar,<br />
called GLISTIN (Glacier and Land Ice Surface<br />
Topography INterferometer ). The GLISTIN<br />
instrument is a derivative of the L-Band system,<br />
Figure 19:<br />
The G-III and UAVSAR landing at Keflavik, Iceland. (Photo: M.<br />
Thomson)<br />
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