The second ice station – drone flying and more
This article is part of the series “2023-06: Arctic Ocean cruise KPH”.
9. June – looking for a floe
We are in the ice again. While D., the ice expert looks for the best floe to work on together with the captain, I use the time to prepare the drone, including a spare one. The rest of the morning I’m mainly on the bridge doing polar bear watch. We are lucky, no polar bears are around and all the people can work on the ice without any interruption.
9. June – drone flying, first try
After lunch it’s time to get out on the ice and do a second series of aerial photos. I prepare the drone, do my preflight check following my checklist and bring the drone up into the air. While the drone is gaining altitude I can feel wind speed increasing and the wind becoming gusty. I fly to the starting point of the area to cover and start doing the first slice of images. The remote control issues a wind warning. I try to continue but realise that flying the way back takes three times longer than flying the way there. This exhausts the battery a lot and it becomes clear that I cannot fly drone today, at least not in 80 metres height.
I use some time to fly the drone in lower altitudes to train a bit and take some photos. The wind calms down a bit and I try to make a so-called “tiny planet” image. Yes, it worked:
The rest of the time I used to take photos from the researchers, including some detail photos.
10 June – following a transect
The next day brings beautiful and calm weather. I will follow D. and C. who will walk a triangle over the ice. D. uses a Magnaprobe to measure the snow thickness each step. C. pulls a sledge with a GEM2, that measures ice thickness with a radar. I just follow. Behind me: the polar bear guard. No group goes out without. Since we move quite slowly – D. has to push a pole into the hard snow with every step – I have time to take photos.
It is really interesting to hear D’s comments on the snow and ice we are traversing. Anyhow I feel guilty. Shouldn’t I have tried to fly again?
10 June – drone flying, second try
I’m lucky. We are back at the ship early and the time to leave has postponed a bit. While D. and C. are calibrating the GEM2 I’m going to the ship and then to my room to fetch the drone. I’m quite sweaty, the water- (and air-)proof Regatta suit is no fun when temperatures are round 0 °C. It’s too warm.
And then I’m back on the ice. I’m lucky, the conditions are good and soon the drone is in the air.
(Photo: Ann Kristin Balto, Norwegian Polar Institute)
While I fly the drone it gets cloudy. This makes the snow on the ice floe a featureless area of white. Instead of looking for visual hints I count seconds, seeing nothing on the display. Will it work?
After the third flight (I have three batteries) I think I’ve covered everything I wanted. Time to take an oblique photo of Kronprins Haakon.
When I’m back I upload the photos and start calculating the orthophoto, which is a photo stitched together with perspective correction and geo information. The first result using a fast algorithm is awful. Positioning on some elements is wrong and we have more people and snow mobiles on the ice than in reality. The slower algorithm works much better. Only some of the ice floes are blurred. Perhaps they turned while I took the photos.
Perhaps I’ll create a visually better version at home. Here I don’t have the time and patience to do that.
This day confirmed again: I have a great job, even though a cruise is only some weeks a year.