RIME Participants:
Thanks to all for your patience regarding the long-promised RIME
Implementation Plan that was to be the outcome of the RIME
Implementation Workshop held in Boulder last February. As you may
recall, we assembled five groups to discuss the instrumentation,
logistical requirements and timeline for the following five categories:
RIME Supersite, Airborne Studies, Modeling, Remote Sensing from Space,
and Surface-Based Studies. It is the Airborne Studies program that is
responsible for the long delay and is the topic we wish to discuss.
Many of you are aware that discussions have been ongoing regarding the
use of the NCAR C-130 for Antarctic studies as part of RIME since
February of 2001. At the Workshop, it was proposed that we link the
field work using the NCAR C-130 with the ANTCI program (also to use the
C-130 for air chemistry studies out of McMurdo) during the
November-December 2005 period, know as Pre-RIME. At least four proposals
to use the NCAR C-130 were submitted to NSF for consideration this past
June. Part of the proposal review process includes a feasibility
analysis of using the NCAR C-130 in Antarctica. A thorough evaluation of
the logistical requirements to support the proposed Pre-RIME research
was conducted by NCAR/ATD staff. The final analysis is as follows:
"In the end we nevertheless classify the Pre-RIME requests for C-130
support as 'not feasible' at present. The basis for this is that we
consider McMurdo to be an airport without adequate alternate landing
options for operation of the wheeled NCAR/NSF C-130. The aircraft is not
equipped to land at McMurdo under conditions of limited visibility, and
this poses unacceptable risks in the case of adverse weather which was
not forecast."
This issue of an alternate landing option has been with us since the
beginning, so the final decision was not unexpected. We wish to thank
the many people at ATD who have been assisting us through each step of
the process.
This brings us back to the beginning in terms of airborne support. We
view the instrumented airborne platform as essential to a successful
RIME effort. Although our attempts to get the NCAR C-130 allocated for
RIME were not successful, we have at least stirred the pot a bit and
recently there have been discussions regarding airborne platforms for
Antarctic research. In particular, preliminary discussions have been
held between NSF representatives and ATD staff regarding refurbishing a
surplus ski-equipped C-130 platform for geophysical studies in
Antarctica. Scott Borg, Erick Chiang and others from NSF were in Boulder
on October 23-24 to discuss options with ATD staff. There are plans for
an upcoming community workshop to discuss this in more detail. From the
RIME perspective, this development is welcome. The only downside is that
the timescale for acquiring, refurbishing and instrumenting a C-130 for
geophysical studies is likely five-plus years out. This pushes the time
frame for RIME.
Two other options worth pursuing are Unmanned Airborne Vehicles (UAVs)
and configuring a Twin Otter for airborne research. UAVs were discussed
at the Workshop last February and were included as a component of at
least two proposals submitted in June. It seems logical that such an
approach is useful in the Antarctic. The Twin Otter possibilities are
more complex. The range of options includes simply installing a PC-based
data logger to record state parameters measured by the Twin Otter's
basic suite of instruments to installation of user-supplied sensors on
the Twin Otter with a comprehensive data acquisition system. We will
continue to inquire regarding possibilities with the Twin Otters. It is
important to note that we do not envisage the Twin Otter as an
alternative to the Polar C-130 platform, which if implemented is clearly
the long-term solution. The Twin Otter option will be a short-term,
relatively inexpensive option that can be made available within a
timeframe appropriate for RIME.
We welcome comments and opinions as to where we should be headed with
the aircraft operations and RIME.
Regards,
David H. Bromwich and Thomas R. Parish
RIME Scientific Coordinators