Mission: Denman 01 Mopup
Priority: High
 
This mission is designed to survey the neighboring Denman and Scott Glaciers, specifically the region just upstream of their grounding lines, on a 10 km grid. The grid is designed to supplement earlier airborne measurements collected by the ICECAP project, specifically by interleaving halfway between their flight lines.
 
A consistent forecast for several days and a timely image from Casey meteorologists indicated strong outflow and relatively clear conditions for this first mopup mission. This mission is designed to fly the two upstream fluxgates that couldn’t be surveyed during the first attempt at Denman 01 due to range concerns. We encountered clear skies and light turbulence, but otherwise all instruments worked well and report 100% data collection of these remaining two lines. We performed a ramp pass at 2000 ft AGL on arrival at Hobart.
 
Toward the end of the survey, one of the four MCoRDS antenna elements appeared to malfunction, possibly due to a loose connection, but the bed was still detected in the real-time display throughout the survey. We will be investigating further and repairing as necessary.
 

Attached images:

1. Map of today’s mission (John Sonntag / NASA)

2. KML of today’s mission (John Sonntag / NASA)

3. Lower Denman Glacier, as it empties into the Shackleton Ice Shelf (John Sonntag / NASA)

4. Snow-filled crevasses, and windblown blue ice, just east of lower Scott Glacier (John Sonntag / NASA)