HR: 0830h
AN: C41C-1004    [PDF]
TI: The New Polar Explorers of the 21st. Century: Autonomous Vehicles
AU: Maslanik, J A
EM: james.maslanik@colorado.edu
AF: University of Colorado, CCAR, 431UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AU: Carsey, F
EM: frank.d.carsey@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 300-323 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Carsey, F
EM: frank.d.carsey@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Polar Research Board, The National Academies 500 Fifth St, NW - NA 705, Washington, DC, 20001 United States
AU: Curry, J
EM: curryja@eas.gatech.edu
AF: Georgia Tech, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Atlanta, GA 30332-0340 United States
AU: * Drobot, S
EM: sdrobot@nas.edu
AF: Polar Research Board, The National Academies 500 Fifth St, NW - NA 705, Washington, DC, 20001 United States
AU: Emery, W
EM: william.emery@colorado.edu
AF: University of Colorado, CCAR, 431UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AU: Holt, B
EM: ben@pacific.jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 300-323 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Johnson, M
EM: johnson@imf.uaf.edu
AF: School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences University of Alaska, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Wadhams, P
EM: pw11@damtp.cam.ac.uk
AF: Polar Ocean Physics Group, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0WB United Kingdom
AB: Throughout the history of polar exploration and research, the difficulties and hazards of the polar environments have proven to be daunting and sometimes deadly. Field efforts require extensive planning and logistics support while deployment and operation of research instruments is limited by power availability, maintenance requirements and access. At a time when the high latitudes are increasingly recognized as bellwethers of climate change, the observation network for the polar regions remains considerably less extensive than is the case for lower latitudes. In some cases, such as arctic drifting camps and coastal weather stations, the monitoring network is actually decreasing. Furthermore, for critical measurements such as sea ice thickness, no direct means currently exist for obtaining spatially and temporally distributed surface measurements. While satellite data promise to provide useful insights into ice mass and several key atmospheric and oceanic conditions, the need still exists for accurate, extensive surface measurements of sea ice and its variability in space and time. As we move into the 21st. century, new methods of observing the Polar Regions need to be implemented - methods that can overcome many of the present limitations listed above. Autonomous vehicles provide one such approach. Through advances in electronics and other essential technologies, it is now possible to deploy robotic vehicles that can operate in the ocean, on the ice and land, and in the sky. Presently, a variety of autonomous vehicles applicable to the Polar Regions are being designed and, in some cases, deployed and operated in the high latitude regions. The IPY offers a unique opportunity to develop a consistent, polar-wide observing network. Such an observing network would include autonomous vehicles combined with more intensive measurements obtained using other methods at key locations around the Arctic rim and in Antarctica. These vehicles bridge the gap between sparsely distributed, existing measurement sites and weather stations, localized and infrequent aircraft campaigns, and extensive but limited information provided by satellites. As an example, one can envision a combination of field measurements, piloted aircraft, surface rovers, robotic aircraft, and satellite observations used to map spatial variability and interannual changes in sea ice thickness. The proposed observing network would be coupled to a suite of oceanic and atmospheric measurements to understand the forces that drive the formation, drift and melt of the ice cover. The result would be improvements in weather and ice forecasting, climate modeling and remote sensing algorithms. Together, such an observing network would provide accurate and detailed information needed to detect climatic changes unambiguously.
DE: 1223 Ocean/Earth/atmosphere interactions (3339)
DE: 3309 Climatology (1620)
DE: 4207 Arctic and Antarctic oceanography
DE: 4275 Remote sensing and electromagnetic processes (0689)
DE: 4594 Instruments and techniques
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting