All of that stuff let us make maps like this one for the first time ever. Less handwaving and more knowing about where measurements are made, how they relate to each other. A physical geography of sea ice!
Unfortunately none of it continues today. Back to reality...
After we were done, the airborne component could lift off! This helicopter carred a lidar, medium format camera and snow radar.
I worked on the lidar and camera data, and used it to make the first ever composite of 3D photogrammetry + lidar + field observations on sea ice...
From earlier the same day - putting up the 'false north' GPS + reflector. This was one end of a baseline established on each work site, so we could reference everything we did to a drifting and rotating ice floe... Somewhere back toward the ship is a total station sitting at the [0,0] point that this is referenced to. After this point is set, we go back and resect a total station to a point *not* [0,0], so we can install a GNSS antenna at [0,0].
Timeline refresh. A #fieldwork photo from 2012, with my surveying team on #SIPEX2012 .
We set out a "no go zone" of about 100 x 100 m for remote sensing calval purposes. We were always first on the ice, racing to get flags out indicating where other teams should avoid. Here we've done the critical parts, communicated to the ship about where to avoid, and are setting out the last corner. And importantly, taking a moment to absorb the place we are in.
🏔️ ❤️ ❄️
Sea ice in the eastern Bering Sea this Spring is the most extensive it's been since 2008 and is only a bit behind the king of high ice springs, 1976 in ERA5 data. The high ice extent has been a boon for subsistence activites in some communities but has also slowed the commercial fishing fleet. Unlike past years when there's been a lot of ice on the Alaska side, this year ice extent is well below normal in the western Bering Sea. @Climatologist49 @ZLabe
In March 2026, the #SeaIce global extent was 6.8% below 1991-2020 mean. Since the beginning of records (1978):
- #Arctic, 1st lowest monthly mean, with 5.7% less extent than normal (-856,735km²)
- #Antarctic, 14th lowest monthly mean, with -10.1%> less exent than normal(-441,262km²)
Dr. 🏔️❄️🗺️📊🎨⛷️🧗🏻♂️🛶
Rick Thoman
Rick Thoman
Vibewire Magazine
Ivi Choc
EUMETSAT OSI SAF