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i'm michael studinger and i'm the

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project scientist for operation

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in the particular upcoming campaign we

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will focus on measuring ice surface

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elevations over antarctica with a laser

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scanner that we have mounted on the dc-8

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aircraft and we will also look into

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measuring

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the surface elevation and surface

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characteristics of the sea ice that

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surrounds antarctica and the southern

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ocean

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since we have this opportunity with a

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big aircraft that can carry many

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different instruments we not only

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measure the ice surface elevation but we

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have also ice penetrating radar

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instruments on the aircraft that allow

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us to actually look through the ice find

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out how thick the ice is over the

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interior of antarctica

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this is something we need to know in

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great detail in order to develop better

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ice sheet models that will allow us to

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characterize how much sea level will

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about the time we started flying in

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antarctica last year in october i sat

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stopped collecting data

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the follow-up mission icesat-2 will be

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launched in 2015

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in order to fill this gap nasa has a

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launch operation icebridge

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we are looking back through 10 years of

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weather history to come up with a

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certain estimate of how many flights

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depending on the availability of crew

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and other things we can possibly

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accomplish in a certain time window and