Helo July 15

 

Photo flight #8 - large grid
interval 21 s (pulse duration=0.1 s, timing= 20 s)
Kt 19 sampling rate 1 Hz
altitude 6000' entire flight box with a pass at 1000' by the ship afterwards.
Thin patchy fog; cloud deck at 5000 meters
Light winds from the south
TCG, BL, HE Present on flight
GPS: Lat. Long. Heading
SHIP 78o 06.1N 166o 07.0W
A 78o 06.1N 165o 02.0W 90
B 78o 19.6N 165o 02.0W 0
C 78o 19.6N 167o 15.0W 270
D 77o 52.6N 167o 15.0W 180
E 77o 52.6N 166o 07.0W 90
TIME NOTES NIKON VIDEO KT-19
10:54:19 Takeoff
10:54:45 Switched On
11:01:35 Switched On
11:02:29 Begin the line from the ship to point A switched on Poly 1 Switched On
Light fog but surface plainly visible
Pack quite loose
Leads still have NW/SE overall fabric but seem randomized on small scale
11:09:06 Start turn at A Poly 1 switched off for turn
11:09:44 End turn Poly 1 switched back on
more light fog; surface still clearly visible
11:15:45 Start turn at B Poly 1 switched off for turn
11:16:25 End turn Poly 1 switched back on
same atmospheric conditions
11:23:34 Fog a bit thicker Poly 1 switched off
11:25:48 Fog decreased Poly 1 switched back on
Ground speed 116 kt
11:26 briefly clear below - no fog at all
11:29:35 Start turn at C Poly 1 switched off for turn
11:30:12 End turn
some fog
11:30:48 Poly 1 switched back on
There are areas perhaps 100 to 200 m wide that have no melt ponds
11:43:20 Start turn at D Poly 1 full
11:43:58 End turn
11:44:18 Poly 2 on line
11:46 A lot of FY ice present to the south and east
11:50:27 Start turn at E Poly 2 switched off for turn
11:51:04 End turn Poly 2 switched back on
Fog almost gone for awhile
Air speed 105-110 kt
11:57:15 End of line at the ship switched off Poly 2 switched off for maneuvering
12:01:27 Reached 1000' elevation; begin NS line past ship on east side Poly 2 switched back on
12:02:13 Over open water Switched on
12:04:03 Beginning of lead on south end of line
12:04:18 End of NS line Poly 2 switched off
Heli maneuvered to the east a bit and began a line from south to north to pass close to Tuk
12:06:12 Passing near Tuk Poly 2 switched on
12:06:30 approx Poly 2 switched off
VCR switched off; total elapsed time 1 hr 8 min Kt-19 switched off
12:10:08 Helicopter landed
Some patches of dirty ice were seen.  They are quite striking but cover probably less than 1% of the surface
TCG and HE estimate that 25-40% of surface is covered by melt ponds
Photos should have less contrast - mostly diffuse light, but camera was left set at f/4
FY ice still less puddled, snow ponds very bright blue near ridges
Pilot flew very consistently at 6000'
Linear melt ponds very clearly aligned (and connected) across floes
At low altitudes beginning, end of flight could see that many melt ponds had broken through the ice cover entirely
The down-looking video is pretty bad here- camera has suffered too many helicopter flights?  Will fly backup camera next flight

 

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