Black Swift Technologies’ S2 UAS has been selected by the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) to conduct high-altitude, high-latitude atmospheric research studies in Greenland, the company announced on 23 April.
INSTAAR is part of the University of Colorado Boulder. The UAS will be deployed for work that supports the East Greenland Ice-Core Project (EastGRIP). EastGRIP is a drilling project aiming to retrieve an ice core by drilling through the North-East Greenland ice stream. Researchers expect to gain new knowledge on ice stream dynamics and past climate.
The S2 will operate at temperatures below -20°C, and will be flying at altitudes of up to 14,000ft. The UAS will perform transects or vertical profiles of the arctic atmosphere to analyse the water vapour above the ice sheet to better understand the impact of climate conditions on Greenland’s mass as a result of sublimation, or evaporation, directly into the atmosphere.