2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program

Figure 22:
Backscatter imagery for a short segment over Jakobshavn glacier.
Data was collected at an altitude of 8km (MSL). The horizontal
axis spans 7.5km and corresponds to the cross-track dimension of
the radar. The map posting is 3m x 3m.
Figure 23:
Height elevation map corresponding to the same region as Figure
18. The color wrap is 800m.
On June 8, the crew transited to Keflavik, Iceland,
for an intensive series of flights over Lanjokull and
Hofsjokull glaciers. The Principal Investigator, Marc
Simons, was enthusiastic in his hope that these data
would be the first 3-D vector measurements made
over these rapidly changing glaciers. On June 14,
the crew began its journey home, collecting repeat
pass UAVSAR data in the Florida everglades to
study vegetation structure, data along the Louisiana
gulf coast to characterize subsidence, and data
along the Mississippi River conduct levee condition
assessments.
It took the science teams many months to analyze
this large volume of data for scientific results. The
response from the scientific community to the
opportunity presented by this unique collection has
been overwhelmingly positive. This was a highly
ambitious undertaking, especially so for a first
deployment. Despite the challenges of operating in
an extreme environment with new systems, all the
requested data were collected. This is a testimony
to the excellence in design of the JPL radars and the
DFRC Precision Autopilot, the robustness of the
G-III as a platform aircraft, and the perseverance of
the combined JPL/DFRC crew. This deployment,
and the ones to come, will provide the science
community new tools for environmental science,
as well as providing pathfinders for the new
instruments recommended by the NRC Decadal
Study.
For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/
centers/dryden/Features/G-III_uavsar_09.html
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