Polar Ice
Glacier Monitoring
Jetyak is an ideal platform to support retreating glacier research - particularly for calving glaciers at the ocean/ice interface. Autonomous operation allows safe deployment and the jet drive provides agile maneuvering and is not fouled by ice floes. Its robust construction is ideally suited for deployment in extremely rugged, hostile and remote terrain.
Fitted-out with a winched CTD w/ turbidity sensor, ADCP and a multibeam below the waterline as well as a laser scanner and HUD video above, Jetyak has collected water column velocity profiles extending to depths of 120m off of West Greenland and has provided detailed submerged glacier geometry with vessel approaches of <1m.
Jetyak data from the Sarqardleq Glacier Mission serves as an enabler for researchers. It allows analysis, modeling and understanding of complex ice/ocean interactions including freshwater flows with measurements that have never before been obtained. Had mission planners opted for a manned helicopter deployment instead (the only other viable alternative to Jetyak), mission costs would be several orders of magnitude higher, and the ability to extend on-station time or adjust data collection for changing field conditions or in response to compelling data analysis would be much more limited.
Iceberg Monitoring
The same configuration of Jetyak used for Glacier Monitoring was applied to iceberg monitoring in coastal Greenland. The Jetyak was programmed to circle the berg, mapping surface melt with lidar and subsurface melt with acoustics. In this way, a temporal series of datasets was compiled, enabling researchers to improve modeling of surface melt and freshwater plumes with a level of detail not previously possible.
Jetyak's high impact polyethylene hull and jet-drive propulsion was ideal for operation in remote waters with ice-laden obstacles. Researchers were able to run aggressive transects with the knowledge that the Jetyak could bump-through small ice floes with out damage - and that even minor hull breaches could be field-patched.