Kangerlussuaq Photos

A bit about the photos, Kanger and our sample sites:

Ice sheet melt water drains into streams and rivers that travel along the edge of the ice margin, west across the tundra and bottle necks at the spillway in town, creating massive rapids that carry tons of sediment through the constriction before dropping its load just down stream where the river bed widens and the water becomes calm.  In the span of one half mile, a raging river, carving flutes and scallops in the solid rock, slows to produce a wide sedimentation zone where silica precipitation preserves 3-8,000 year old fish in fresh sedimentary rock.

Looking east from the fossil beds, towards the spillway, along the cut banks of the river 

Mudcracks near the fossil beds

Sub-glacial sample site. Flows believed to have a sub-glacial component are at the base of the ice, center Right of the image.  Cables at the left of the Image above, and shown below, are used for the boat crossing.

Cable and rope anchors include, drilled bolts, a lassoed moraine and two iron posts set 10 feet into the ice sheet.

Sam and Kyla (Dry-) suiting up for the river crossing.  The river water is around 6 deg C, the glacial outflow, surface and basal, are around 0.1 deg C.

The original, terrible, 1950s(?), inflatable boat used to cross the river to reach the glacial outflows. Hence the Dry-suits...

Looking into the ice cave/channel carved out by the glacial outflow.  The scalloped roof has a bright blue glow.

Hammering the iron stake anchors into the ice.  Rapid melting exposes the stakes and requires weekly hammering.

But the stakes are curling under sam's sure strikes!

This is me, breaking up the ice that was preserved under "Al foil hats" made to slow down the melting around the stakes.

We hiked onto the ice sheet to observe the local ice drainage systems.  A river running along the terminal moraine disappears into the ice and may contribute to the outflow we sample.

Ice sheet rivers, everywhere!  The more time I spend on the ice, the more I fall in love with it.

waterfalls, rivers, pools, moulins...

Kyla, stylin' it on the ice sheet

June 24th, 2012 (half way to Greenland)

Technically the day started before I fell asleep.  Exhausted but content I crashed at 2am after a long day spent packing, sampling (twice!) cleaning, and sorting out phone malfunction issues.  The day continued at 4:30 am with Stu (thanks a million!), driving me to the airport and arriving with just enough time to check my 75 lbs of baggage, get through security and yes, buy a bagel all by 530am.   So many successes.  On the plan to Chichago, I became acutely aware of the world outside graduate school in seattle.  Crying babies (Meg you would have loved the flight ;) ), families and lots of overweight people… I felt healthy. 

The flight was uneventful, and being exhausted after only 2.5 hours of sleep, I was happy for the, albeit cramped, nap.  The pilot informed us that our plane was only 10 days old, fresh out of the factory.  I couldn’t decide whether the soft glowing blue lights in the cabin felt futuristic, or like I was in some new age smooth jazz club, or maybe a high profile runway show (where were the models and photographers?).  In my sleepy state I dreamed up some matlab code that motivated me to open my computer and begin working…of course when I attempted to implement it, my "dream code” proved much more challenging when I actually had to type real things into MATLAB…. I’d like to think my habit of dazed problem solving, something I apply most frequently to work and elusive climbing moves, is a primitive form of optimism.  My subconscious knows it possible.  :)  Funny how things seem the most clear while in the fuzziest of states.  I gave up on reality and slept the remainder of the flight. 

I had enough time in the Midway airport to snag a book for the next 7 weeks.  After perusing the book store, and debating over caving in to The Hunger Games craze, or wrapping myself in a Hatchet like novel with a strong female lead that had “river” in the title (yes, I’m a sucker of strong female leads, and outdoors, and yes, I am secretly a feminist :) ) I left the bookstore bored and unenthused.  I decided to try again at another airport shop and was immediately drawn to Moby Duck, a non-fiction account of 28,800 floating beaver, duck, turtle and frog bath toys, lost at sea in the Graveyard of the Pacific.  Sold.  I’ve only read the first 12 pages and already strongly recommend it.

I chatted with a woman in the lobby while waiting for my connection to Albany, NY.  Our conversation became centered on environmental issues, at which point she pulled out her Sierra club magazine to show me a couple articles.  One short blurb, she insisted I look at, was about a woman who had accidently burned down a 3500 year old tree while smoking meth under its once expansive canopy.  She asked me, “how do you not get discouraged?” “In grad school” I asked?  “No, by all the natural destruction happening.”  A thought instantly popped into my head: “I fill my time by researching it, understanding it, and hopefully fixing it…most my friends do. It’s our lives, our work and our playground.”  I did not say this to her, only that it was concerning.  Then I wondered, why this was enough for me? Why am I not more fired up and dismayed about strip mining, active water contamination and global warming?...I believe this is the researcher in me, working towards a 

Unbeknownst to me, there was a gaggle of kids in the back of the airplane to NY.  As the plan sped up and lifted off the ground an excited cheer rang out from the back, as if we had just gone over the hill of a roller coaster.   “WOOOOO ! we are flying!!!” The kids called out.   All the seasoned travelers around us gave a laugh.  Though that kid we were all reliving the excitement, novelty and seeming magic of our first flight.  The older man next to me leaned over to his wife saying “Oh to be young again.”   As we gained altitude and passed through the thick cumulus clouds, characteristic of hot and humid eastern summers, the plane yawed and pitched with turbulence.  During the bumpy spell one of the kids in the back decreed that “this is the best day ever!”.  Kids after my own heart!  Through them we are reminded of the excitement of travel, the novelty of life.

..half way to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.