We made it to 84N and did some really good science en route. The second radar altimeter (without which extended flying below 100ft is impossible) was playing up on the ground in Kiruna so I was nervous that we would not be able to do any of the low level work that we’d planned. In the event, it righted itself en route and we were able to fly down to 50ft over the ocean off Svalbard, including flight round the Norwegian research vessel of our MOCA (one of the other projects working on this field campaign) colleagues.
The afternoon flight took us to 84N, a record for FAAM, with a low level return over ice, mixed ice and open ocean to Svalbard. We have got excellent methane data to investigate whether the ocean is a methane source at the edge of the sea ice. It was an exciting flight, if a little too much for Stéph (see photo).
Professor John Pyle, University of Cambridge
Photos courtesy of Professor John Pyle, University of Cambridge.
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