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By NASA
A prototype of a robot built to access underwater areas where Antarctic ice shelves meet land is lowered through the ice during a field test north of Alaska in March. JPL is developing the concept, called IceNode, to take melt-rate measurements that would improve the accuracy of sea level rise projections.U.S. Navy/Scott Barnes Conducted through the U.S. Navy Arctic Submarine Laboratory’s biennial Ice Camp, this field test marked IceNode’s first in a polar environment. The team hopes to one day deploy a fleet of the autonomous robots beneath Antarctic ice shelves.U.S. Navy/Scott Barnes Called IceNode, the project envisions a fleet of autonomous robots that would help determine the melt rate of ice shelves.
On a remote patch of the windy, frozen Beaufort Sea north of Alaska, engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California huddled together, peering down a narrow hole in a thick layer of sea ice. Below them, a cylindrical robot gathered test science data in the frigid ocean, connected by a tether to the tripod that had lowered it through the borehole.
This test gave engineers a chance to operate their prototype robot in the Arctic. It was also a step toward the ultimate vision for their project, called IceNode: a fleet of autonomous robots that would venture beneath Antarctic ice shelves to help scientists calculate how rapidly the frozen continent is losing ice — and how fast that melting could cause global sea levels to rise.
Warming Waters, Treacherous Terrain
If melted completely, Antarctica’s ice sheet would raise global sea levels by an estimated 200 feet (60 meters). Its fate represents one of the greatest uncertainties in projections of sea level rise. Just as warming air temperatures cause melting at the surface, ice also melts when in contact with warm ocean water circulating below. To improve computer models predicting sea level rise, scientists need more accurate melt rates, particularly beneath ice shelves — miles-long slabs of floating ice that extend from land. Although they don’t add to sea level rise directly, ice shelves crucially slow the flow of ice sheets toward the ocean.
A remote camera captured an IceNode prototype deployed below the frozen surface of Lake Superior, off Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, during a field test in 2022. The three thin legs of the robot’s “landing gear” affix the prototype to the icy ceiling.NASA/JPL-Caltech The challenge: The places where scientists want to measure melting are among Earth’s most inaccessible. Specifically, scientists want to target the underwater area known as the “grounding zone,” where floating ice shelves, ocean, and land meet — and to peer deep inside unmapped cavities where ice may be melting the fastest. The treacherous, ever-shifting landscape above is dangerous for humans, and satellites can’t see into these cavities, which are sometimes beneath a mile of ice. IceNode is designed to solve this problem.
“We’ve been pondering how to surmount these technological and logistical challenges for years, and we think we’ve found a way,” said Ian Fenty, a JPL climate scientist and IceNode’s science lead. “The goal is getting data directly at the ice-ocean melting interface, beneath the ice shelf.”
Floating Fleet
Harnessing their expertise in designing robots for space exploration, IceNode’s engineers are developing vehicles about 8 feet (2.4 meters) long and 10 inches (25 centimeters) in diameter, with three-legged “landing gear” that springs out from one end to attach the robot to the underside of the ice. The robots don’t feature any form of propulsion; instead, they would position themselves autonomously with the help of novel software that uses information from models of ocean currents.
JPL’s IceNode project is designed for one of Earth’s most inaccessible locations: underwater cavities deep beneath Antarctic ice shelves. The goal is getting melt-rate data directly at the ice-ocean interface in areas where ice may be melting the fastest. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Released from a borehole or a vessel in the open ocean, the robots would ride those currents on a long journey beneath an ice shelf. Upon reaching their targets, the robots would each drop their ballast and rise to affix themselves to the bottom of the ice. Their sensors would measure how fast warm, salty ocean water is circulating up to melt the ice, and how quickly colder, fresher meltwater is sinking.
The IceNode fleet would operate for up to a year, continuously capturing data, including seasonal fluctuations. Then the robots would detach themselves from the ice, drift back to the open ocean, and transmit their data via satellite.
“These robots are a platform to bring science instruments to the hardest-to-reach locations on Earth,” said Paul Glick, a JPL robotics engineer and IceNode’s principal investigator. “It’s meant to be a safe, comparatively low-cost solution to a difficult problem.”
Arctic Field Test
While there is additional development and testing ahead for IceNode, the work so far has been promising. After previous deployments in California’s Monterey Bay and below the frozen winter surface of Lake Superior, the Beaufort Sea trip in March 2024 offered the first polar test. Air temperatures of minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 45 Celsius) challenged humans and robotic hardware alike.
The test was conducted through the U.S. Navy Arctic Submarine Laboratory’s biennial Ice Camp, a three-week operation that provides researchers a temporary base camp from which to conduct field work in the Arctic environment.
As the prototype descended about 330 feet (100 meters) into the ocean, its instruments gathered salinity, temperature, and flow data. The team also conducted tests to determine adjustments needed to take the robot off-tether in future.
“We’re happy with the progress. The hope is to continue developing prototypes, get them back up to the Arctic for future tests below the sea ice, and eventually see the full fleet deployed underneath Antarctic ice shelves,” Glick said. “This is valuable data that scientists need. Anything that gets us closer to accomplishing that goal is exciting.”
IceNode has been funded through JPL’s internal research and technology development program and its Earth Science and Technology Directorate. JPL is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California.
How NASA’s OMG found ocean waters are melting Greenland News Media Contact
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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Last Updated Aug 29, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
5 Min Read NASA Returns to Arctic Studying Summer Sea Ice Melt
NASA's Gulfstream III aircraft taxis on the runway at Pituffik Space Base as it begins one of its daily science flights for the ARCSIX mission. Credits: NASA/Gary Banziger What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic, and a new NASA mission is helping improve data modeling and increasing our understanding of Earth’s rapidly changing climate. Changing ice, ocean, and atmospheric conditions in the northernmost part of Earth have a large impact on the entire planet. That’s because the Arctic region acts like Earth’s air conditioner.
Much of the Sun’s energy is transported from tropical regions of our planet by winds and weather systems into the Arctic where it is then lost to space. This process helps cool the planet.
The NASA-sponsored Arctic Radiation Cloud Aerosol Surface Interaction Experiment (ARCSIX) mission is flying three aircraft over the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland to study these processes. The aircraft are equipped with instruments to gather observations of surface sea ice, clouds, and aerosol particles, which affect the Arctic energy budget and cloud properties. The energy budget is the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun and the energy the Earth loses to outer space.
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This highlight video gives viewers a front row seat to a typical day on the ARCSIX mission from Pituffik Space Base as NASA's research scientists, instrument operators, and flight crews fly daily routes observing sea ice and clouds 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland.NASA/Gary Banziger “More sea ice makes that air conditioning effect more efficient. Less sea ice lessens the Arctic’s cooling effect,” says Patrick Taylor, a climate scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “Over the last 40 years, The Arctic has lost a significant amount of sea ice making the Arctic warm faster. As the Arctic warms and sea ice melts, it can cause ripple effects that impact weather conditions thousands of miles away, how fast our seas are rising, and how much flooding we get in our neighborhoods.”
As the Arctic warms and sea ice melts, it can cause ripple effects…thousands of miles away.
Patrick Taylor
NASA Climate Research Scientist
The first series of flights took place in May and June as the seasonal melting of ice started. Flights began again on July 24 during the summer season, when sea ice melting is at its most intense.
“We can’t do this kind of Arctic science without having two campaigns,” said Taylor, the deputy science lead for ARCSIX. “The sea ice surface in the spring was very bright white and snow covered. We saw some breaks in the ice. What we will see in the second campaign is less sea ice and sea ice that is bare, with no snow. It will be covered with all kinds of melt ponds – pooling water on top of the ice – that changes the way the ice interacts with sunlight and potentially changes how the ice interacts with the atmosphere and clouds above.”
Sea ice and the snow on top of the ice insulate the ocean from the atmosphere, reflecting the Sun’s radiation back towards space, and helping to cool the planet. Less sea ice and darker surfaces result in more of the Sun’s radiation being absorbed at the surface or trapped between the surface and the clouds.
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A pilot's view of Arctic sea ice from NASA's P-3 Orion aircraft during NASA's ARCSIX airborne science mission flights in June.NASA/Gary Banziger Understanding this relationship, and the role clouds play in the system, will help scientists improve satellite data and better predict future changes in the Arctic climate.
“This unique team of pilots, engineers, scientists, and aircraft can only be done by leveraging expertise from multiple NASA centers and our partners,” said Linette Boisvert, cryosphere lead for the mission from NASA’s Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We gathered great data of the snow and ice pre-melt and at the onset of melt. I can’t wait to see the changes at the height of melt as we measure the same areas covered with melt ponds.”
NASA partnered with the University of Colorado Boulder for the ARCSIX mission, and the research team found some surprises in their early data analysis from the spring campaign. One potential discovery is something Taylor is calling a “sea ice sandwich”, when a younger layer of sea ice is caught in between two layers of older sea ice. Scientists also found more drizzle within the clouds than expected. Both observations will need further investigating once the data is fully processed.
A research scientist monitors data measurements in-flight during the spring campaign of the ARCSIX mission.NASA/Gary Banziger “A volcano erupted in Iceland, and we believe the volcanic aerosol plume was indicated by our models four days later,” Taylor said. “Common scientific knowledge tells us volcanic particles, like ash and sulfate, would have already been removed from the atmosphere. More work needs to be done, but our initial results suggest these particles might live in the atmosphere much longer than previously thought.”
Previous studies suggest that aerosol particles in clouds can influence sea ice melt. Data collected during ARCSIX’s spring flights showed the Arctic atmosphere had several aerosol particle layers, including wildfire smoke, pollution, and dust transported from Asia and North America.
“We got everything we hoped for and more in the first campaign,” Taylor added. “The data from this summer will help us better understand how clouds and sea ice behave. We’ll be able to use these results to improve predictive models. In the coming years, scientists will be able to better predict how to mitigate and adapt to the rapid changes in climate we’re seeing in the Arctic.”
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Last Updated Jul 26, 2024 EditorCharles G. HatfieldContactCharles G. Hatfieldcharles.g.hatfield@nasa.govLocationLangley Research Center Related Terms
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By NASA
NASA Stennis Autonomous Systems Laboratory Project Engineer Travis Martin monitors successful data delivery from the center’s ASTRA payload aboard the orbiting Sidus Space LizzieSat-1 satellite. The ASTRA autonomous systems hardware/software payload represents the first-ever in-space mission for NASA Stennis. NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA’s Stennis Space Center and partner Sidus Space Inc. announced primary mission success July 2 for the center’s historic in-space mission – an autonomous systems payload aboard an orbiting satellite.
“Our ASTRA (Autonomous Satellite Technology for Resilient Applications) payload is active and operational,” NASA Stennis Center Director John Bailey said. “This is an incredible achievement for Stennis, our first-ever in-space mission flying on a new state-of-the-art satellite. We are all celebrating the news.”
ASTRA is the on-orbit payload mission developed by NASA Stennis and is an autonomous systems hardware/software payload. The NASA Stennis ASTRA technology demonstrator is a payload rider aboard the Sidus Space premier satellite, LizzieSat-1 (LS-1) small satellite. Partner Sidus Space is responsible for all LS-1 mission operations, including launch and satellite activation, which allowed the NASA Stennis ASTRA team to complete its primary mission objectives.
LS-1 launched into space on the SpaceX Transporter 10 rideshare mission March 4 and deployed the same day. The LS-1 satellite commissioning began after deployment and was completed on May 12. Sidus Space’s next step was to begin activation of payloads, including ASTRA.
After the payload was activated, the NASA Stennis Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL) team confirmed they had established a telemetry link to send and receive data in the ASTRA Payload Operation Command Center. The ASL team continued to checkout and verify operation of ASTRA and has confirmed that ASTRA primary mission objectives have been successfully achieved.
“This is just a remarkable and inspiring accomplishment for the entire team,” said Chris Carmichael, NASA Stennis ASL branch chief. “So many people put in a tremendous effort to bring us to this point. It is a great demonstration of the team’s vision and capabilities, and I am excited to see what the future holds.”
The NASA Stennis ASL works to create safe-by-design autonomous systems. ASTRA demonstrates technology that is required by NASA and industry for upcoming space missions. The ASTRA computer on the satellite runs a digital twin of satellite systems, which detects and identifies the causes of anomalies, and autonomously generates plans to resolve those issues. Ultimately, ASTRA will demonstrate autonomous operations of LS-1.
“Achieving ASTRA’s primary mission objectives underscores our dedication and commitment to driving innovation while advancing space technology alongside NASA, our trusted partner,” said Carol Craig, Founder and CEO of Sidus Space. “We are proud to support such groundbreaking projects in our industry and eagerly anticipate the continued progress of our LizzieSat-1 mission.”
The success of the ASTRA mission comes as NASA Stennis moves forward with strategic plans to design autonomous systems that will help accelerate development of intelligent aerospace systems and services for government and industry.
For information about NASA’s Stennis Space Center, visit:
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Last Updated Jul 02, 2024 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related Terms
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By Space Force
Pituffik Space Base hosted King Frederik X, king of the Kingdom of Denmark, his wife, Queen Mary, queen of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede, June 29.
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By NASA
NASA/Wanmei Liang, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview NASA’s Terra satellite captured floating fragments of sea ice as ocean currents carried them south along Greenland’s east coast on June 4, 2024.
This ice traveled from the Fram Strait, a 450-kilometer (280-mile)-wide passage between Greenland and Svalbard, to the Arctic Ocean. Along the journey, it breaks into smaller pieces and starts to melt in warmer ocean waters, creating the wispy patterns seen here.
Learn more about Arctic sea ice.
Image Credit: NASA/Wanmei Liang, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview
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