Polarstern Helicopters - Logistical aspects - Ueberdeckung MOSAiC Implementation Workshop, St. Petersburg, 13-16 Nov 2017
Two Helicopters BK 117 C1 Capacities: Cabin/Cargo: ~ 1000 kg OR Sling load: ~ 1000 kg No sling loads under night-flight conditions! Max. 1 pilot + 7 passengers Photo: C. Barrientos Ueberdeckung
Night-flight conditions: Day-flight conditions: Solar altitude < - 6° Day-flight conditions: Daylight or civil twilight Solar altitude > - 6° 10000 ft 1500 ft 1200 ft 500 ft 100 ft Ueberdeckung
Launch of buoys at low flight altitudes possible Rules for operations under night-flight conditions: Normally, no landings on ice floes! Exception 1: SAR missions Exception 2: Preliminary reconnaissance, e.g., by means of a hovercraft, less than 24 h before a flight and with one pilot aboard Residence time of a helicopter on a floe < 45 min Launch of buoys at low flight altitudes possible (Meteorological) Masts in the area of the central observatory and at autonomous platforms to be visited by helicopters should be equipped with a signal lamp on top. Ueberdeckung
Maximum operating range If Heli 1 is up to 80 nm away, Heli 2 has to stay within a range of 3 nm. Maximum operating range max. 80 nm The permission for a flight and the actually allowed range heavily depend on visibility, contrast and cloud situation! Ueberdeckung
max. 3 nm Coordinated flights of both helicopters are possible in a range of 3 nm, e.g., heli-pod on heli 1, sea ice sensors on heli 2. Ueberdeckung
Coordination necessary among the helicopter, UAV, balloon and aircraft teams in regard to time and space coordination of flights Ueberdeckung
Please, send further requests to Gerit.Birnbaum@awi.de ! Call for proposals for use of helicopters: Deadline 15 SEP 2017 Apparently, there are more wishes for logistical support by helicopters than proposed so far. Mission Main Applicant 4 remote flux nodes, position buoy network (deployment, maintenance, recovery) M. Shupe (NOAA) Transport to ice stations for BGC-work E. Damm (AWI) Deployment of autonomous platforms G. Liston (CIRA) Ridge monitoring (autonomous instruments) M. Doble (UK) Transport to ice stations C. Polashenski (CRREL) Please, send further requests to Gerit.Birnbaum@awi.de ! Max. 6 flight hours per day Estimation: 600-700 flight hours within 12 months Ueberdeckung
Information desired from the Remote Sensing and Modelling group on: suitable parameters for validation, required frequency of measurements, preferred horizontal scales and spatial flight patterns, temporal and spatial coordination with ground based, other airborne and satellite measurements. List of measured parameters will be provided soon. Example for necessary coordination: Satellite images from SAR-missions for the validation by means of airborne or ground based measurements have to be ordered 48 hours (min. 30 hours) in advance. Ueberdeckung
Preliminary decisions on airborne operations on the day before Final remark The unprecedented complexity of ground based, airborne and remote sensing activities during MOSAiC will require a modification of the weather briefing procedure on RV Polarstern to meet the new requirements. Important points for task group Helicopters: Discussion of 3-day weather forecasts for preliminary activity planning of all groups by a selected group of relevant persons together with the forecaster from the German Weather Service Preliminary decisions on airborne operations on the day before Ueberdeckung