Arctic Ice Dynamics 1972 Pilot Study Documentary Film

Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment (AIDJEX) Second Pilot Study, March - May 1972: A Documentary Film is a digitized 16 mm film documenting a 1972 pilot study on drifting sea ice in the Beaufort Sea. The film was produced by Hannes Zell and Dieter Wittich for the AIDJEX Project Office and later donated to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). It serves as a visual record of the field operations and camp life preceding the main 1975-1976 AIDJEX experiment.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical field camp logistics and instrumentation setup for Arctic research.
• Studying sea ice conditions and behavior in the Beaufort Sea during the spring of 1972.
• Providing visual context to complement the written AIDJEX Bulletin series published from 1970-1978.
• Documenting the techniques and challenges of conducting scientific experiments on drifting ice floes.

Strengths

• Film documents a specific, well-documented scientific pilot study with a known time range (March-May 1972) and location (Beaufort Sea).
• Associated project produced 40 AIDJEX Bulletins and operations manuals, providing extensive contextual documentation.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its recognized importance as a historical scientific record.

Limitations

• Core dataset attributes like file size, duration, and resolution are unknown from provided sources.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' metadata, reporting dates of 1972-05 -31 and 2026-03-13.
• The specific license terms under 'other-license-specified' are not detailed.

Provenance

Source

AIDJEX Project Office at the University of Washington; film produced by Hannes Zell and Dieter Wittich.

Collection Method

Original 16 mm film transferred to digital medium by Victory Studios of Seattle; digital copy donated to NSIDC by Dr. Norbert Untersteiner.

Time Range

1972-03 to 1972-05

Freshness

2026-03-13 10:47:57.865121

Geography

Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska