The scientific legacy of NASA's Operation IceBridge

NASA's Operation IceBridge (OIB) was a 12‐year airborne mission to survey land and sea ice across the Arctic, Antarctic and Alaska. Using 15 different aircraft, OIB conducted 958 science flights, of which 41% were repeat surveys of land ice, 42% were surveys of previously unmapped terrain across the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, Arctic ice caps and Alaskan glaciers, and 17% were surveys of sea ice. While many of its datasets have yet to be fully explored, OIB's scientific legacy has already demonstrated the value of sustained investment in reliable airborne platforms, airborne instrument development, interagency and international collaboration, and open and rapid data access to advance our understanding of Earth's remote polar regions and their role in the Earth system.

Video produced for AGU by Larry O'Hanlon