OBSERVATIONS OF SEA ICE USING A LOW-COST UNPILOTED AERIAL VEHICLE

Routine observations of sea ice conditions present a variety of problems for piloted aircraft. Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can provide a relatively low-cost platform that operates with little risk while offering many of the benefits of inhabited aircraft. One such UAV, the Aerosonde, is undergoing development and testing for polar operations. Since 1999, Aerosonde flights have been carried out from Barrow, Alaska over the near-shore pack ice and shore-fast ice. Currently, the Aerosondes are being used to characterize surface conditions through digital photography and skin temperature measurements, as well as to provide coincident atmospheric information. These data are being employed to map ice conditions including ice and lead features, melt ponds, and surface temperature, and to investigate ice-atmosphere processes over leads and within the marginal ice zone. Further developments should extend the usefulness of the Aerosondes for a wide range of polar applications