Mission: Jakobshavn-Eqip-Store
Priority: Baseline
 
This baseline mission was last flown in 2017 (although two of its upper lines were flown in 2018) and surveys two ICESat-2 tracks of varying time latency. This flight not only extends coverage of ICESat legacy tracks and ICESat-2 tracks within the upper Jakobshavn catchment, it also surveys the centerlines of several glaciers to the north.  One of the IS-2 tracks was swapped (see notes below) to minimize the timing between OIB and IS-2 data collection (the attached map has been updated accordingly).
 
The first half of the mission was nothing short of spectacular!  Flying the centerlines of Rink and Kangerdlugssup glaciers, along with the fjord that connects their fronts, got the entire plane to their feet to vie for a view from the limited number of windows on the P-3.  We observed many seal holes and some polar bear tracks, but did not actually see any wildlife. Even the beautiful stratigraphy visible in the fjord walls was noted by many.  Although significant amounts of meltwater was present on all glacier runs, the ponding to the south generated some of the biggest lakes that OIB has observed thus far.
 
Over much of the flight, we encountered no low-lying clouds.  Most of the time, the clouds were high and scattered; however, fog in the easternmost reaches of the interior ICESat segments resulted in some signal loss. Headwall SWIR was unable to be operated today, but otherwise all instruments worked well.  ATM estimates 90% data recovery.  We performed a ramp pass at 3500’ prior to landing.

ICESat-2 Tracks (+/- indicates OIB surveyed after/before ICESat-2)
            0666, - 4 days
            0536, + 4 days