Notes from the Field

Flight baptism

Normally, flight patterns are designed and effectuated based upon good scientific conditions. We must rely on the expertise of meteorologists who tell us if we are likely to fly with favorable weather. Instruments being all “go” is another fundamentally important factor (the first day we were grounded by power problems to one of the aircraft).  In […]

Arriving at McClellan

We — the scientists taking part in the Carbonaceous and Aerosol Radiative Effects Study (CARES), a field campaign to California that’s all about aerosols – do, that’s who. Walk outside, lift your eyes and look: what do you see? If you’re lucky, not much more than a beautiful blue sky. More likely, though, you’ll be […]

From GloPac co-mission scientist Paul Newman: It was a tense moment on Friday morning, April 2.  The Global Hawk was poised on the end of the runway, with the crew chief behind it in a pick-up truck (“the trapper” is the runway-based eyes and ears for the crew in the control room).  Pilots, managers, and […]

Our project took a major step forward in 2010, although the work we accomplished was completed far from the Pine Island area.

As you can tell, the coffee on Thursday was over-caffeinated.

I don't want to hear anything about holes in the plane. It pains me!

NASA's Operation IceBridge mission, the largest airborne survey ever flown of Earth's polar ice, kicks off its second year of study when NASA aircraft arrive in Greenland March 22.