Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland, where the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier terminates
Sean Gallup/Getty
A team of scientists and engineers will head to Greenland next month to test fly drones in the Arctic, in the hope of pioneering a new low-cost surveillance system that will transform monitoring of ice sheets.
Currently most data on the state of the Greenland ice sheet comes from satellite monitoring and crewed flights. Drones could provide a cheaper, more accurate solution, say researchers, unlocking near real-time monitoring of the rapidly melting feature.