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Sciences and Exploration Directorate
Past

Operation IceBridge (OIB)

NASA’s Operation IceBridge imaged Earth’s polar ice in unprecedented detail to better understand processes that connect the polar regions with the global climate system. IceBridge utilized a highly specialized fleet of research aircraft and the most sophisticated suite of innovative science instruments ever assembled to characterize annual changes in thickness of sea ice, glaciers, and ice sheets. In addition, IceBridge collected critical data used to predict the response of earth’s polar ice to climate change and resulting sea-level rise. IceBridge also helped bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA’s ICESat satellite missions. IceBridge officially ended in 2021.

Launch Date

2010

Class

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Websites


Key Staffs

NASA’s Operation IceBridge imaged Earth’s polar ice in unprecedented detail to better understand processes that connect the polar regions with the global climate system. IceBridge utilized a highly specialized fleet of research aircraft and the most sophisticated suite of innovative science instruments ever assembled to characterize annual changes in thickness of sea ice, glaciers, and ice sheets. In addition, IceBridge collected critical data used to predict the response of earth’s polar ice to climate change and resulting sea-level rise. IceBridge also helped bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA’s ICESat satellite missions. IceBridge officially ended in 2021.

The NASA P-3 on the ramp in Thule, Greenland, in 2013.
Credit: Michael Studinger

The NASA DC-8 on the ramp in Punta Arenas, Chile, in 2012.
Credit: Jeremy Harbeck


Completed IceBridge Flights


Image of complete Arctic OIB flight trajectories 2009-2019

Image of completed Antarctic OIB flight trajectories 2009-2019

Related Publications

2025. "Review article: AntArchitecture – building an age–depth model from Antarctica's radiostratigraphy to explore ice-sheet evolution.", The Cryosphere, 19 (10): 4611-4655 [10.5194/tc-19-4611-2025] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Towards an improved understanding of the Antarctic coastal zone and its contribution to future global sea level.", ESS Open Archive, [10.22541/essoar.175241971.19851046/v1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "A revised and expanded deep radiostratigraphy of the Greenland Ice Sheet from airborne radar sounding surveys between 1993 and 2019.", Earth System Science Data, 17 (6): 2911-2931 [10.5194/essd-17-2911-2025] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Estimating differential penetration of green (532 nm) laser light over sea ice with NASA’s Airborne Topographic Mapper: observations and models.", The Cryosphere, [https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2625-2024] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Drill-site selection for cosmogenic-nuclide exposure dating of the bed of the Greenland Ice Sheet.", The Cryosphere, 16 (10): 3933-3948 [10.5194/tc-16-3933-2022] [Journal Article/Letter]