Off to the ice! We hit the ground running early in the morning with a bumpy ride out along the longest road in Greenland. Needless to say, we were quite the caravan (consisting mainly of pick-up trucks and land rovers) as we bungled along the narrow sand/gravel road - taking pictures out the window was certainly an interesting feat.
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| Kasper, why do you brake going UP the hill? |
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A failed attempt at an out-the-window picture.
Bumpy is an understatement. |
After about an hour, we met up with Julia Bradley-Cook and Ruth Heindel, two students from Dartmouth University, who talked to us about the Carbon Cycle and their work with soil respiration. They use an Infrared Gas Analyzer (made by LI-COR) and a soil moisture and temperature probe to measure carbon dioxide flux due to soil respiration. Julia and Ruth explained that the permafrost layer is a crucial carbon "sink"; it serves as a key long-term storage base for carbon that would otherwise exist in the atmosphere, biosphere, or lithosphere. As global temperatures follow an increasing trend, this poses a problem. Warmer temperatures are beginning to thaw out layers of soil deeper and deeper underground, meaning more and more permafrost is melting. As these layers thaw, the carbon that was previously trapped within them is released into the atmosphere. The newly released carbon dioxide, being a "greenhouse gas", then contributes to the rising global temperatures by trapping additional heat in the atmosphere. The role of soil respiration in this reciprocal action of warm temperatures causing carbon to be released causing rising temperatures is what Julia and Ruth aim to study. After teaching us about the carbon cycle (with an excellent carbon cycle dance) and demonstrating their methods of measurement, Julia and Ruth took us out to see the Russel Glacier.
Julia and Ruth taking measurements. :)
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| And so the steep trek begins... |
While we observed the glacier and took weather measurements and water samples, a sizable chunk of ice calved off into the river below. I didn't see it happen first-hand, but I certainly heard it, and the video footage Malene was lucky enough to record was spectacular! After all the excitement, the steep hike back to Julia and Ruth's site was a breeze!
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| Our first view of Russel Glacier |
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| Russel :) |
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| Standing in front of Russel |
After finishing our work at the glacier, we continued down the road to Point 660, which is so-named because it is 660 meters above sea level. Once there, Rikke sent us Garnet hunting on the glacial moraines and Kasper led us out onto the ice. While it was not the first time I've ever stood on top of a glacier, it was definitely the first time I've stood on top of one so large. The glacier did not simply look incredible, but it had its own presence. As I stood and stared off into the distance trying to pin-point the exact spot where the glacier bled across the horizon into the sky, the vastness seemed tangible to me - I could almost feel the immensity of the mass of ice on which I stood. It was definitely worth the rough roads and the strenuous hike to be able to experience the feeling of vastness. Kasper became very excited by the density of scat we discovered on the hike back to the cars. We found three species - a musk ox, a caribou, and an arctic fox - all within the space of a meter! ("Three scats in a meter! That's like one in two million!" - Kasper Busk)
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| A close-up of some deep blue ice |
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| A moraine-topped ice-face |
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| A Moraine |
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| An improbable glacial erratic |
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| The expansive ice |
Once we returned to "base camp" (after a sumptuous aftensmad at the airport), Rikke helped me identify our mystery minerals (my favorite was epidote, a beautiful green-colored mineral) and judged the "Prettiest Garnet" competition - Group 2 won.
Today was so much fun, and I'm looking forward to what's in store for us, but I AM TIRED!!!!!
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