Goodbye rain, Hello snow

Leaving behind days (weeks) of rain, members of Cohort 4 and friends head to the Air National Guard Base for another deployment to Greenland. See you in August!

(Left to right) Alden Adolph (C4), Kristin Schild (C4), Ben Kopec (C2), Gifford Wong (C1), Leehi Yona, Julia Bradley-Cook (C1), Ross Virginia, and Mary Albert (in front). Thanks to expert packing by Gifford, the cargo all fit too!

Read Full Post »

Blog Post for Polar Field Services

During my time in Greenland this summer, I was able to meet and talk with several people from Polar Field Services (who do a lot of the logistics work for supporting scientists working in Greenland). They were very excited about the groups I am involved in (IGERT and iisPACS) and wanted me to write a blog about my journeys to Greenland and share some pictures, as a way to get more people interested in science by seeing the type of work that is out there. The link to the blog is below:

http://www.polarfield.com/blog/guest-post-hydrologic-cycle-west-greenland/

Thanks for your interest!

Russel Glacier to the east of Kangerlussuaq

Read Full Post »

Ice Dam Break in Kangerlussuaq

On Tuesday, August 12th, there was a fairly large ice dam break on a lake along the edge of the ice sheet. Annie and I were out sampling lakes near the margin when we saw the remnants of what appeared to be a much larger lake. The first sign was a group of large blocks of ice sitting on the slope about 20 meters above the height of the current water level. When we started looking around, we noticed the high water line all around the valley and even on the ice. It also appears that there are many past fluctuations in the water height in this lake as well, as there is a lack of vegetation up to a certain height on the slope all around the area (much higher than the recent lake level). When we returned to KISS later that evening, our suspicions were confirmed by a group of students researching the meltwater hydrology. There was a water rise in the river in Kangerlussuaq but nowhere near as extreme as the flooding that destroyed the bridge.

Lake after ice dam break. Large ice blocks left on the slope at previous water level.

Large ice blocks left after drainage event. You can see the old water line on the ice across the lake.

This shows the potential lake height from past events

Read Full Post »