Thursday, March 22, 2012

Flying over sea ice!


Today started with a beautiful sunrise at the Cake Eater Lab...
Photo courtesy of graduate student Stephan General (Univ. of Heidelberg)
...Which was followed by an absolutely amazing flight with Professor Paul Shepson!
Take-off! (photo courtesy of graduate student Stephan General (Univ. of Heidelberg))



Several leads (open water channels) have opened up to the west of Barrow!  Now BROMEX is in full swing!  We are investigating the impacts of these openings in the sea ice on the atmosphere.


Flying over NARL (former Navy Arctic Research Lab)

Cake Eater Lab!
Two happy scientists! (Post-doc Dr. Kerri Pratt and pilot Prof. Paul Shepson, Purdue Univ.)
Excited after the flight! (Post-doc Dr. Kerri Pratt, Purdue Univ., photo courtesy of graduate student Stephan General (Univ. of Heidelberg))

2 comments:

  1. Keep the posts coming all! The updates are really making me wish I was up there with you all ... so realize I'm living vicariously through your blog posts!

    Since you're answering questions so well: Has Shep seen any polar bears out on the ice during the flights? How far out (and up) does a typical flight go? Anyone get airsick yet? ;)

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    Replies
    1. Shep's responses:
      1. You really can't see anything small from the air. We can't fly low to the ice...
      2. 0-12,000 feet; within landing distance of Barrow.
      3. No, the atmosphere is very stable - there is no turbulence at all!

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