February 1998 Volume XXXIII--Number 2

 

Contents

The Arctic and Antarctic Research Center: Support for research during 1996-1997, by Robert H. Whritner, Elizabeth Nelson, and Dan Lubin

South Pole Station safety upgrades and modernization begin

Hero needs a home

Science notebook--News from Antarctica and beyond

Cold Regions Bibliography database now accessible via the Web

U.S. Antarctic Program news round-up

Foundation awards of funds for antarctic projects, 1-31 December 1997

  


By extracting data recorded by instruments aboard the U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite and using data from Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I), Robert H. Whritner of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Center (AARC) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (University of California at San Diego) produced an image that portrays the ice conditions in the Ross Sea on 19 February 1998, near the end of a Nathaniel B. Palmer research cruise. This image was processed using the high-frequency (85-gigahertz) portion of the SSM/I and gave researchers onboard the Palmer an accurate picture of the overall ice concentrations. The SSM/I can see the ice even when clouds cover most of the antarctic ice edge and even when the ice cannot be seen by visible and infrared means. The software used to extract the high-frequency data was developed at AARC at Scripps Institution. Robert H. Whritner, Elizabeth Nelson, and Dan Lubin describe the work of AARC in an article in this issue: "Arctic and Antarctic Research Center: Support for research during 1996-1997."

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