Black Swift Technologies (BST) has announced that its Black Swift S2 UAS will be used to conduct high-altitude high-latitude atmospheric research studies in Greenland, as part of the international East Greenland Ice-Core Project (EastGRIP).

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the work will be conducted by the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), which is part of the University of Colorado Boulder.

The Black Swift S2 will operate at temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius or colder, and will be flying at altitudes up to 14,000 feet— right on the edge of commercial airspace, Black Swift notes—to make routine atmospheric measurements.

To get a better understanding of how climate conditions are impacting Greenland’s mass as a result of sublimation, or evaporation, directly into the atmosphere, Black Swift’s S2 will perform transects or vertical profiles of the arctic atmosphere to analyze the water vapor above the ice sheet.

As Black Swift explains, the isotopes of the snow and ice represent a “fingerprint of the temperature” when that water condensed out of a cloud, providing researchers with a fairly reliable historical temperature record. This can be scrutinized along with a lot of other variables measured in the ice core, including dust, volcanic debris, chemical make up, and trapped atmospheric gases. 

Researchers hope that by analyzing past climate conditions, they can obtain new knowledge on the timing and response of the ice sheet to changes in a variety of climate drivers, like sea ice extent, and changes in ocean circulation.

“Ice sheets are melting and glaciers are retreating. Greenland is no exception,” says Bruce Vaughn, INSTAAR’s lead Research Fellow on the project at CU Boulder, who has been conducting isotope research in arctic environments for nearly 30 years.

“Measuring the amount of water vapor above the ice sheet and its isotopes can tell us about its origins, whether it’s coming from the ice sheet or the atmosphere. We have been, during the course of our fieldwork over the last couple of years, taking measurements using a small three- or four-meter tall tower (Figure 3). The data we have captured lets us look at the gradients, in terms of both in water vapor concentration and it’s isotopic signature above the ice sheet. That can tell us a whole lot. But what it doesn’t tell us much about is what’s happening above the boundary layer in the atmosphere and the upper troposphere and how air masses in the stratosphere might be mixing in. This is where the S2 fits into our strategy.”

Scientists are essentially taking capturing measurements of precipitation from the sky that represent climate when they take measurements in the ice core.

Black Swift explains that “as the ice sheet responds to the atmosphere between precipitation events, it will exchange isotopically with the atmosphere—meaning water molecules from the ice sheet will exchange with water molecules in the atmosphere.”

“It’s really a two-way conversation between the atmosphere and the ice sheet,” the company says.

Black Swift goes on to explain that “scientists have learned that between precipitation events, the micro-layer on the surface of the ice will slowly start to exchange and isotopically mirror what’s in the water vapor above it.” Therefore, understanding that relationship provides scientists with more insight into what the isotopes in the ice core are actually telling them.

These observations close to the surface can be made relatively easily, but they are labor intensive. For scientists, the air mass above the ice sheet (into and above the boundary layer) is still a bit of a mystery to scientists, which is another reason why the S2 is being deployed.

“The S2 has become an integral part of what we’re trying to accomplish in Greenland,” Vaughn says.