There is a lot of space-equipment aboard the SIBIR’, and they expect
soon to be able to give Pravda's editorial office information via
the satellite MOLNIA.
On May 31. the ice-convoy (SIBIR' and KAPITAN MYSJEVSKIY) is
nearing the northern point of Novaya Zemlya, Mys Zhelaniya. Then
the satellite "EKRAN" was used for relaying transmissions to the
convoy.
4.6 Laser Terrain Profiles of Sea Ice SurfaceS
During the last half of the sixties, the U.S. Naval Oceanographic
Office (NAVOCEANO) conducted airborne experiments over the Arctic
pack ice to evaluate the usefulness of various remote sensor systems
for mapping and measuring sea ice conditions and features. Infrared
scanners, side-looking radar, a passive microwave imager, and a
laser altimeter terrain profiling system were used.
At the above-mentioned experiment over the sea-ice fields of the
Beaufort Sea in April 1968, also a laser terrain profiler was
tested. Analysis of the data revealed that sea ice surface rough-
ness and the naturé of the roughness and relative surface reflec-
tivities can be used to interpret the categorical stages of ice
development.
The laser terrain profiler seemingly detected, with acceptable
accuracy, all ice features traversed. Ice pressure ridges, ice
hummocks, or ice blocks could not, however, be discriminated from
each other on the record since the measurement is only two-dimen-
sional. These features were always detectable even when occuring
in rapid succession. Cracks were very discernible on the laser
terrain profile record. According to an informal NAVOCEANO-report
of May 1970, entitled "Preliminary Analysis of Laser Terrain Profiles
of Sea Ice Surfaces", by Robert D. Ketchum, Jr., the laser profile
data obtained with coincident photography from an altitude of
about 300 metres (1,000 feet) over the sea ice indicated that