Monday, July 9, 2012

Åsa Rennermalm from Rutegers University visited us this morning and brought us up to Point 660 to assist her in taking discharge measurements. We took measurements in a small stream, found baby birds (Redpolls specifically), and "bumpy-bused" (a school bus was our mode of transportation for the day) up onto the moraine. We took a slippery hike out onto the ice to run maintenance on one of Åsa's ablation stakes and weather probes. Åsa uses 3-meter-long bamboo posts to track supraglacial (on the surface of the glacier) melting. As we drilled a new hole in the ice for the stake, Åsa told us about the previous month's measurements. A 3 meter post she placed in the ice on June 8 was completely exposed when she returned 16 days later (on June 24) to check on the weather probe associated with the ablation stake. She explained that it is typical for the ice sheet to undergo seasonal melt, but not at as drastic a rate as 3 meters in 16 days.* 

On a different note, I officially caught the "Polar Bug" today. I now know that I caught the "bug" as soon as I applied for this program, but it didn't quite catch up with me until I was out on the ice sheet away from the edge of the glacier. They're really not kidding when they say that once you've been out on an ice sheet, it's guaranteed that you won't want to leave the polar regions. Standing in the sea of ice and sky, its hard to avoid being drawn in by the ice sheet's presence. It truly is a powerful feeling, and it's what draws many scientists to return time and time again. See for yourself if you'd want to come back - check out the pictures.

*Regarding this, many of you may have heard about the sizable chunk of the ice sheet (twice the size of Manhattan!) that calved off into the Arctic Ocean early in July. Perhaps you've even heard about the major melting measured by NASA. Additionally, while in Kangerlussuaq, we experienced the massive flooding of the already fast-flowing Watson River. These matters are definitely worth further investigation especially regarding the potential influence human activities may have had over these normally natural occurrences. Here's a link to NPR's story on the iceberg and the melting: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/07/25/157343661/heat-dome-linked-to-greenlands-biggest-melt-in-30-years

Asa's device for measuring discharge.