Ice Core Excavator (ICE)
What is ICE?
The Ice Core Excavator (ICE) is an undergraduate-student designed payload for a commercial quadcopter drone. ICE is a tool for climate scientists studying snow algae, black carbon, and other surface snow phenomena to collect snow and ice samples quickly over a wide area and in dangerous environments such as thin sea ice or remote glaciers.
In July 2023 ICE undergraduate engineers traveled to Bellingham, WA to field test ICE on the slopes of Mt. Baker. The payload was delivered the project's Principle Investigator Dr. Alia Kahn at Western Washington University.
The project was funded through NSF-OPP-Award#-2218834.
Photos of the ICE expedition to Mt. Baker, Washington.
Photos courtesy of Luke Hollister of Western Washington University.
