North Pole Environmental Observatory NPEO Aerial CTD Survey

Investigators landed a helicopter or skiplane on the arctic sea ice and took measurements using a Seabird SBE-19 Seacat with a portable winch. They processed the data using the SEASOFT recipe to minimize salinity spiking and correct for a thermal lag of the conductivity cell.

Certain constants were determined by empirical trial, which differed slightly for each year. The North Pole Environmental Observatory (NPEO) is a year-round, automated scientific observatory, deploying various instruments each April in order to learn how the world s northernmost sea helps regulate global climate. It consists of a set of unmanned scientific platforms that record oceanographic, cryospheric, and atmospheric data throughout the year.