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EOS Aqua AMSR-E Sea Ice Validation Program: Meltpond 2000 Flight ReportThis flight report describes the field component of Meltpond2000, the first in a series of Arctic and Antarctic aircraft campaigns planned as part of NASA's Earth Observing System Aqua sea ice validation program for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E). This prelaunch Arctic field campaign was carried out between June 25 and July 6, 2000 from Thule, Greenland, with the objective of quantifying the errors incurred by the AMSR-E sea ice algorithms resulting from the presence of melt ponds. A secondary objective of the mission was to develop a microwave capability to discriminate between melt ponds and seawater using low-frequency microwave radiometers. Meltpond2000 was a multiagency effort involving personnel from the Navy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and NASA. The field component of the mission consisted of making five eight-hour flights from Thule Air Base with a Naval Air Warfare Center P-3 aircraft over portions of Baffin Bay and the Canadian Arctic. The aircraft sensors were provided and operated by the Microwave Radiometry Group of NOAA's Environmental Technology Laboratory. A Navy ice observer from the National Ice Center provided visual documentation of surface ice conditions during each of the flights. Two of the five flights were coordinated with Canadian scientists making surface measurements of melt ponds at an ice camp located near Resolute Bay, Canada. Coordination with the Canadians will provide additional information on surface characteristics and will be of great value in the interpretation of the aircraft and high-resolution satellite data sets.
Document ID
20020013322
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Technical Memorandum (TM)
Authors
Cavalieri, Donald J.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
December 1, 2000
Subject Category
Oceanography
Report/Patent Number
NASA/TM-2000-209972
Rept-2001-00672-0
NAS 1.15:209972
Funding Number(s)
PROJECT: RTOP 971-00-00
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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