1. The Norway – United States Scientific IPY Traverse of East Antarctica Thomas Neumann, Code 614.1, NASA GSFC The Queen Maud Land sector of East Antarctica is one of the most inaccessible parts of Antarctica, and we know very little about even the basic attributes of the area (ice thickness, accumulation rate, surface temperature). Recent studies suggest the area is changing, but the sign of the change is unclear. The difference is important as small changes in accumulation rate over such a large area can have a measureable effect on sea level. Our project was designed to collect baseline and calibration data from ice cores, snow pits, and radar data to characterize the area; better understand how this area interacts with the ocean-atmosphere system; assess climate change in this region over the past 1000 yrs; and how the area may change in the future. In this second year of field work, T. Neumann (NASA/GSFC) lead the traverse that traveled ~3000 km overland from the South Pole Station to the Norwegian Troll Station. Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory Figure 1: 2008-09 traverse route in green, 2007-08 route in blue Figure 2: Collecting a 90m ice core in sunny weather.

2. Name: Thomas Neumann, NASA/GSFC E-mail: Thomas.Neumann, Thomas.A.Neumann@nasa.gov Phone: 301-614-5923 References: http://traverse.npolar.no Goldman, H.V. 2008. From the editor: halfway through the IPY—halfway for an Antarctic traverse. Polar Research, 27, 1- 6. Data Sources: This is a joint effort funded by the National Science Foundation, the Norwegian Polar Institute, the Research Council of Norway, and NASA. The project consists of 14 Principal Investigators from the United States and Norway, lead by Dr. Mary Albert (Dartmouth College) and Jan-Gunnar Winther (Norwegian Polar Institute), Technical Description of Images: Figure 1: Background image is RADARSAT mosaic of (RAMP 125m product), overlain with routes of the 2007-08 route (in blue, with black text indicating stopping points) and the 2008-09 route (in red, with black text indicating stopping points, and red text indicating longer science stops). Image by S. Tronstad, Norwegian Polar Institute. Figure 2: The portable Eclipse drilling platform was used to collect ice cores between 30m (ice approximately 200 years old), and 90m (ice approximately 1000 years old) at our seven science stops. Equipment provided by Ice Coring and Drilling Services under contract from the National Science Foundation. Image by T. Neumann, NASA/GSFC. Scientific significance: Our project was the first scientific work in the area since the U.S. traverses of the late 1960s. Our data will shed light both on the physical attributes of the region (temperature, accumulation rate, ice thickness, surface topography), as well as the logistical approach required for successful field work in the area. We conducted the first ground-based investigations of the Recovery Lakes area (Sites 08-3 through 08-6), and mapped ice thickness, gravity variation, internal layer stratigraphy, as well as collecting multiple ice cores from the lakes. These features likely have a controlling influence on the fast ice flow of the Recovery Ice Stream and its’ tributaries. Relevance for future science and relationship to Decadal Survey: The Decadal Survey identifies ice sheet mass balance, and mass balance changes, as key issues in Climate Variability and Change. Our project has collected the first surface-based modern records of the accumulation rate changes (a key component of the mass balance) in this area, and will also provide information on temperature change in the region as well. Our study provides both a baseline for future studies in this region as well as providing calibration for space-based observations and an assessment of climate change in the region. Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory

3. Daily Rapid Response MODIS Mosaic of the Arctic Jeff Schmaltz, Code 614.5, SSAI/NASA GSFC A set of images is generated daily from both Terra and Aqua MODIS data. The images include the entire Arctic Ocean and the surrounding continents and are provided in multiple resolutions. The images are available on the web for the Arctic research and operations community. Smaller regional images are also created to allow easier download of higher resolution images Figure 2: Terra mosaic for 4 April 2009 Figure 1: Regional image for Iceland Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?mosaic=Arctic

4. Name: Jeff Schmaltz, SSAI/GSFC E-mail: Jeff.Schmaltz@nasa.govJeff.Schmaltz@nasa.gov Phone: 301-614-5135 References: Justice, C.O., Townshend, J.R.G., Vermote, E.F., Masuoka, E., Wolfe, R.E., Saleous, N., Roy, D.P., Morisette, J.T. (2002). An overview of MODIS Land data processing and product status. Remote Sensing of Environment, 83, 3-15. Technical Description of Image: The MODIS Rapid Response System generates complete mosaic images of the Arctic every day from March 18, 2009, to the present. Images are available throughout boreal late spring, summer, and early fall as long as enough visible light is present to generate an image of the region. Since lighting is poor in boreal late fall, winter, and early spring, images will not be generated during that period. Mosaic images are available in photo-like, true color from both the Terra and Aqua satellites at 4km, 2km, 1km resolutions. A 367 false-color image is also generated from Terra data. The mosaic is composed of smaller image tiles, which are available individually at 250 m, 500 m, 1 km, 2 km, and 4 km resolutions. The image is composed of data collected during a single day (UTC time). Because Aqua and Terra are in a polar orbit, MODIS captures many images of the Arctic throughout the day. To select the data used in the mosaic, the Rapid Response System chooses the data that are closest to the center of each swath, where edge distortion is minimized. This mosaicing technique creates the diagonal lines that give the image its "pie slice" appearance. The images are mapped using the Polar Stereographic projection with origin at 0 longitude and +90 latitude with a +70 standard parallel (also known as latitude of true scale). The mosaic is laid out in a 8 by 8 tiling scheme, centered on the north pole. Each tile is 1024 by 1024 kilometers in size. The tiles are numbered starting with row 0 column 0 in the lower left corner. Initially, only the central 6 by 6 tiles (row 1 column 1 to row 6 column 6) are being generated due to processing limitations. The complete mosaic can be downloaded as a single image at 4km, 2km, and 1km resolutions. By clicking on each individual tile within the mosaic, a page featuring that tile will come up, and the 250m image for that tile can be downloaded. In addition to the mosaic of the entire region, a number of "cropped" subsets have been created for smaller specific regions. The advantage of this cropping approach is that the higher resolutions (500m and 250m) are easily available without the end user having to download and possibly piece together multiple tiles to cover the area of interest. Scientific Significance: The Rapid Response MODIS mosaic of the Arctic is designed to provide near-real time imagery for research and operations planning. It is currently being used by NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, NSF's Office of Polar Programs, NOAA’s Sea Ice Forecast Program, US Coast Guard research vessels, and Arctic scientific and operations personnel from the United States and several other nations. Similar image mosaics are produced for the Antarctic during the southern summer. Relevance to future science and relationship to Decadal Survey: This near-realtime imagery will be used to plan day to day activities for future expeditions to the polar regions, including ground validation campaigns for ICESat-II. Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory