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Into the Final Turn: From Cold to Colder

Aircraft takes off from runway
NASA’s G-III, outfitted with the GLISTIN-A interferometry radar on the bottom of the fuselage, takes off from Keflavik, Iceland on the morning of March 28, 2016, on its way to map Greenland glaciers and land in Thule, Greenland.

by Patrick Lynch / KEFLAVIK, ICELAND /

On Monday morning, the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) team left the chill of Keflavik (32 degrees Fahrenheit but with a relentless, stinging wind) for the more ruthless cold of -8 degrees Fahrenheit in Thule, Greenland.

Before landing, the seven-person team will fly over coastline near Thule today to map glaciers where they meet the sea. After today, the team will make three more science flights to complete mapping the entire Greenland coastline – this information about the heights of hundreds of glaciers will form the baseline for the next five years of study, providing new insights into the ice sheet’s contribution to sea level rise.

Greenland map
NASA’s Airborne Science Program flight tracker shows the G-III on its way from Keflavik to Thule on March 28. Track all NASA Earth science flights with the flight tracker here: airbornescience.nasa.gov/tracker/
HQ_OMG_03282016_OMGcrew
The OMG team in Keflavik (from left): mechanics Angel Vazquezz and Mike Brown, Johnson Space Center; radar engineers Tim Miller and Ron Muellerschoen, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; pilot Dick Clark, Johnson Space Center; flight crew Rocky Smith, Johnson Space Center; and pilot Tom Parent, Johnson Space Center.