>> announcer: this is techknow, a show about innovations that can change lives. this is a show about science by scientists. let's check out the team. dr shini somara is a mechanical engineer. onight "techknow" on the road in greenland. >> we are on our way to the air base. i'm nervous. >> we are on board for n.a.s.a.'s operation icebridge - flying over some of the largest ice sheets on the planet. >> i managed to get into the cockpit, which, for a mechanical engineer, is a dream come true. >> of the the view is amazing, but something a wrong.

>> this gigantic, ancient ice sheet is melting. >> we explore what is happening in greenland and how soon it will effect us. >> marita davison socializes in evolution, cara santa maria is a scientist journalist and educato in microbiology, and i'm phil torres, i'm an ento meteorologists. that's the team, let's -- entomologist. that's the team - now let's do some science. 7 music ♪ ] hey, whim to "techknow." i'm phil torres, joined by shini somara, marita davison, and cara santa maria. we are in for a treat. shini - you just got back from on amazing journey to one of the

most spectacular places in the world. please tell us about it. >> well, it was an absolute dream come true mission that i was on. i went to greenland and i was mapping glaziers with n.a.s.a. on a peace-free aircraft. the views were stunning. let's take a look. i travelled half a world away to get to a case some call the canary in the coal mine when it comes to climate change. greenland. i was here to observe an n.a.s.a. mission called operation icebridge. since 2009 n.a.s.a. has been flying airborne missions out of kangaloosa, a former u.s. airbase. the goal is to measure changes to the arctic sea ice and the ice sheet over greenland. we are just on our way to the

air base and i am feeling kind of a bit nervous. i'm not the most relaxed of flyers. so let's see what happens. >> it was 6am, and about 10 degrees farenheit. >> so it's usually about a quarter of a mile walk to the plain. whatever condition it might be in. you get to the plane, heat up the equipment, grab a hairdryer, and it is used to heat up the equipment and most of the equipment that we are using is off the shelf computer stuff, designed to go if a climate controlled room with humidity control, and none of that is here. >> here is a p3, a plane designed by the u.s. navy as an anti-submarine aircraft. >> it's the perfect airplane for this mission. it's meant to travel long

distances over big oceans over big altitudes. bounces around in the turbulance. just like we knew. >> n.a.s.a. modified it with an array of sign tifg instruments and cameras. >> this is the forward bay. >> this is where the torpedoes would sit. >> there's true. normally there would be doors that open and close. we have taken the doors away and added a special fering to carry three of these. >> this is the airborne atm. >> working with lasers in airplanes - they are the two greatest things. i can't afford to buy a laser and an airplane on my own, so i get to work with n.a.s.a. >> they measure the surface area of the ice sending out laser.

>> we mention the time of flight. the time it reaches it ground and comes back. we do that with knowledge. aircraft's position in space - when you put it together you have a detailed and accurate map of the topography in the flight path of the aircraft. >> by flying over many of the same flight paths, changes to the topography are documented. >> each has an accuracy of about 10 centimetres. >> are errors significant in comparison to the way the ice sheet is changing. >> for the most part, the sponsor of greenland, changes are in the order of 1-10 metre per year. they are huge changes. scientists use the data to predict where the glaziers will be five years from now. how much more ice will we lose in five years. >> in recent years scientists have been concerned about acceleration and thinning of the

glaziers, known as outlet glaziers. >> i'm going to post the mission plan, the map that shows where we are going. >> minutes before takeoff, senior scientist announces where exactly the plane is headed. we have been doing this mission for five years now. this is the south-east glacier. they have been interesting in recent years. it was dramatic in the early 2000s. and they started thinning at the same time. that was a surprise. that's the reason we are here to monitor that continued progress, and why it's happening. it's sort of infamous in circles. a lot of people philadelphia flyers this in turbulence. we have learnt to avoid that. that is what we are doing. >> in despite of his assurances, i was nervous. every job has

occupational hazards. minutes after take off, the team takes measurements. >> so we are flying very low. >> we are typically flying 1500 feet. it's tight to where the instruments collect data. >> for scientist, every bit of data counts. >> you have to map all the area, even the areas that we think are not changing. getting a map of the ice sheet

is important, and we almost do it one glacier at a time, that's the benefit of mission. >> i can't get over how beautiful that place was. glaziers? >> it was so unbelievable to fly at the low altitude. the aircraft is designed to fly close to the ocean. it was built to survey submarines , so it was designed for the job. but the views from the cockpit were stunning. i was pinching myself the whole time. we were looking outside the window at polar bear tracks. it was amazing. >> i understand the pilots can see a difference outside. what about the science behind that. there's a lot of equipment on the aircraft.

they measure the bedrock under the ice sheet. they found something that rivals the grand canyon. we learn about that in part two. >> i magg managed to get into the cockpit which, for a mechanical engineer, is a dream come true glaziers.

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greenland. spectacular views so far, and now the sign. >> one of the main object tefs of the mission is to understand the behaviour of the ice that sits over greenland. there was an array of technology recording that data. we get close to it, taking a first-happened look. let's check it -- first-hand look. let's check it out. n.a.s.a.'s operation icebridge is an airborne issue mapping changes to the arctic and antarctic. greenland. >> here we have to make our own dinners, and after a few hours of flying you work up an appetite. not bad. there are few feature comforts in this p3 plane, but it's business as usual for the scientists that spend eight to nine hours a day, six days a week, in the air. operation icebridge began in 2009, after the satellite ice

sat stopped functioning. with the next satellite ice sat ii not due until 2015, the airborne missions fill the gap and they take measurements that are impossible from space. >> we fly four different radar systems, allowing us to map the ice sheet from centimetre resolution at the surface, down to the bottom of the ice sheet. >> that doesn't happen on the satellite. if we could do this from satellite it would be helpful. we can't fly the radar from 600km off the surface. >> the moment powerful of the radars isthe m cords. >> it basically is designed to penetrate through multiple kilometres of ice, and be able to image the bedrock of

underneath an ice sheet. >> you can say that mt kilomajaro was 500m tall. we are able to with that distance to depth sound ice sheets at 5,000 metres, basically. so it's amazing. >> why is it important to know what greenland looks like under the ice sheets. >> the object for the glaziologists is to go to modelling, based upon what is underneath, how quickly is the center of greenland moving towards the outer glaziers of greenland. happening. altitude. glaziers. >> okay. thank you for coming, back to the seat. >> collecting airborne data over flying. >> the aircraft is over the previous spot. otherwise we can't compare the measurements.

we had to invent a technique to place the aircraft where it needs to be. we have computers computing the position using gps. the computers are mounted, you probably saw it. it looks like a video game. the pilot steers to keep the icon over the path where we want it to be. >> so i managed to get into the cockpit, which, for a mechanical engineer, is a dream come true, and we are heading towards the glaziers. the views that i see are absolutely beautiful, and that's enough in itself for me. the mission is about collecting data and understanding exactly how the environment in the harsh area of the world is changing. gas emissions cause earth service temperatures to rise, and here they are rising twice as fast on average than anywhere else on the world. this is resulting in the melting of the ice sheets and glaziers.

>> is there an environmental urgency to the shrinking. >> n.a.s.a.'s stated purpose in the shrinking of ice sheets is the application of coastal communities. a proportion of the world population lives near the coastal areas. modest rises over 100 years, 200 years have dramatic impacts on humankind. >> in addition to gathering data. the team spent a great deal of time on sea ice ma measurementscollected form a picture of what lays beneath the ice. it measures thickness, thickness of the ice layer and the snow cover. there's snow later on. it's like a parker traps warm air, it's an important process to understand.

>> according to recently released data arctic sea ice cover is in record lows. >> we compared our data to 30, 40-year-old data and find huge differences there. that is consistent with what the climate scientists say that the whole climate of the arctic has been changing. >> it's not just changes to the ice that could affect climate change. this year operation icebridge added a pair of speck trom otters on board, to monitor changes to the reflectivity of the ice, known as albedo. >> if it is changing, more ice is melting, it absorbs more energy. >> because the ice sheet acts as a mirror of sunlight. >> it does. when the sea ice disappears and melts, you go from a white surface.

issue? >> it's a positive feedback mechanism of science. if the earth warms, it causes warming up more and builds like a snowball. >> for the ice bridge team the first step is collecting the data to better understand climate change. >> the goal is to provide scientists with a unified package, radar measurements, camera measurements, laser surface, they agree and form a package of data used to here. >> flying on an airplane, 1500 foot above the ice sheet in greenland and collecting scientific data - it's an unusual job, and part of this - you find people that are very this. >> great place to work. the view out the office window is

fantastic. >> that flight was absolutely incredible. i was anxious in the beginning, because it's a notoriously bumping route with all the glaziers, but it was smooth, beautiful, and what was astounding was the way the crew and the scientists worked together to collect the essential data that we need to understand how the environment is changing around greenland. >> coming up next - the life of the scientists on the road. it is special because it contains small gas parl concludes that will -- particles that bubble up. in this case we were lucky to find whiskey. you can hear the >> start with one issue

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welcome back to techknow. i'm phil torres, joined by cara santa maria, marita davison, and dr shini somara. now, shini has been taking us on a journey through greenland. we have seen the flights and the science. what was it like to be there with the scientists? >> well, i got to experience that first hand. we were staying in the statement location as where the n.a.s.a. crew live. it was pretty amazing, to say the last. really cold. let's take a look. i came to greenland to join n.a.s.a.'s operation icebridge. their goal is to collect the critical data on how polar ice sheets are changing. here

the an arctic they days are long at this time of year. you have to stay up until nearly midnight to catch the famous northern lights. to the n.a.s.a. scientists home kiss. >> just taken off my boots. they are so heavy, it's a relief to take them off. i'm keeping them outside my room, because it's a custom. i noticed that my room used to be a storage room, so welcome to my humble dwelling. i told you it was basis. these are flip flops, essential when you share a bathroom with men and women. this is a second bed. i'm supposed to share with a room-mate. luckily i have the place to myself. and the most important thing - my food supplies, which is mostly sugar, and dried food where you add water. it's a home

away from home. >> it's important to keep yourself fed at night because sometimes during the plane rides you can't always eat sitting down because of turbulence, or your stomach doesn't want you to eat because of turbulence. it's either one of the two, so for me dinnertime is the time to stock up on calories and get myself ready for the next day. >> okay. i think we have a good flight today. i think the weather turned out to be what we had hoped. the data collection was good. it can't get any better than that. as a bonus we saw spectacular scenario. so why don't we see what we have planned for tomorrow. >> this is not necessarily a nine to five day. if there's a problem, we'll investigate it. if it's a software or hardware. if it's hardware we'll fix it.

we have long days. sometimes your mind wants to bail out, and wants to move on to something else, something normal. but then i always think to myself is that going be normal or is this actually normal. >> the folks we travel with here kind of become a family. we make a lot of meals together and look out for each other. that's a big part of what makes that whole thing bearable and rewarding. >> little drier still. what do you think? >> it looks like it is a little bit pulley. maybe a little more. yours. >> you have pork sausage. >> ready for a drink? >> what are we drinking. in is a little bit of glacier ice. we rode out to the local glacier land and act brick home a 20 pound block.

the ice is special because it contains small gas particles that bubble up when you add liquid. in this case we are lucky to find whiskey and pore it in there and you hear the bubbles. the glacier is speaking to us. >> the glassier can be speaking to us in other ways. i went to see for myself what it looks like up close. 80% of this country is covered in an ice sheet. in some areas it reaches 2 miles deep. this gigantic ice sheet is shrinking. put simply, it's losing more ice each summer than it gains each winter. since 2003 greenland has experienced a loss of 200 billion tonnes of ice a year. as it melts. it has the participation to speed up further climate change.

>> greenland being a primary ice mass acts as a buffer, absorbing merge in a large client. as it gets smaller, the impact to climate in africa or papua new guinea or the united states is amplified. warming. >> it's global, yes. the early indicators probably will happen up here. >> you know, you seem warm and cosy when you were indoors, but hard. gruelling? >> the schedule was really gruelling, starting at 5:30, or earlier, because it was co-ed bathrooms, so i, in particular, wanted to get in first at 4:30, but they were up really early, and everyone was showered and on

the plane by at least six. but i loved seeing how at the end of the day they come together. there's a lot of comraderie and warmth and joy around it. phil, you and i spent a lot of time in field stations in the tropics, and a lot of that happens at the field stations. fun to see it happening in the arctic. >> it was a little toasty where we were. similar comraderie, four shore. >> there are a lot of knowns. the extent to which the glaziers are melting is surprising. but did you guys discover anything new on your journey? >> to draw conclusions about the environmental situation in statement. but i was talking to the pilots, and they were saying that they actually see year after year visual differences in the ice sheet in greenland because it's changing so rapidly. that is quite scary, if you think about it. >> thank you shini for sharing your incredible interesting,

beautiful adventure. i know the n.a.s.a. guys go to antarctica if the summer. >> absolutely, different planes, different technology, but the same mission. >> hopefully techknow can join them on that too. >> hopefully. >> join us next time. >> dive into these stories and go behind the scenes at aljazeera.com/techknow. follow our contributors on >> on tech know, >> scientists go up in the sky, >> we're flying over a fracking field in texas >> using ground breaking technology to check air quality down below. >> formaldehyde levels were astronomical...it's bad. >> tech know, every saturday go where science meets humanity. >> this is some of the best driving i've every done, even though i can't see.

>> tech know. >> we're here in the vortex. only on al jazeera america. israeli tanks on the boarder and tension inside gaza as hamas rejects an extension of the ceasefire. ♪ ♪ welcome to al jazerra live from doha. also coming up on the program, ukraine's military says it's gaining ground in the push towards the rebel-held city of donetsk. australian police join a dutch security team in ukraine to secure the malaysia airlines crash site. and the bangladeshee festival tradition leading to long cue