Cryospheric Sciences

Science and Shovels: Traversing across the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Nanna B. Karlsson July 13, 2015

The Case tractor pulling the dome. Credit: N. B. Karlsson.

Moving 150 tonnes of equipment more than 450km across the Greenland Ice Sheet sounds like a crazy idea. In that context, moving a 14-metre high, dome-shaped, wooden structure seems like a minor point, but it really is not. I do not think I realised what an awesome and awe-inspiring project I was part of, until I was out there, in the middle of the blindingly white ice sheet, and I saw the enormous ...[Read More]

High-tech science, old-school ship – Anne-Katrine Faber and Malte Winther

Nanna B. Karlsson March 17, 2015

Last summer we got the chance to participate in an incredible Arctic expedition. The mission was clear and yet unclear at the same time: Bring your fanciest laser technology on a wooden schooner. Then cross the Atlantic and sail to the fjords of southern Green land and conduct science throughout the journey. During most of our expedition, our “scientific lab” contained icebergs, glaciers and beaut ...[Read More]

Do Beers Go Stale in the Arctic? – Jakob Sievers

Nanna B. Karlsson March 13, 2015

A curious polar bear investigates an instrument tower on sea-ice. Photo: Jakob Sievers.

A story about CO2 -fluxes between sea-ice and the atmosphere What’s it all about? Whenever I have had to describe my PhD research project to people outside of my research community, I have always found it useful to use an analogy most people are familiar with, namely beers. Now that I have the full attention of the entire class, allow me to explain. Say you were to find yourself at an outside café ...[Read More]

Only extremes – Babis Charalampidis

Nanna B. Karlsson March 9, 2015

Last hundred meters until ZAC_S, the middle station on A. P. Olsen ice cap. (Credit: Daniel Binder)

– In fieldwork, you have no average. You just have extremes. When Daniel spoke his mind out loud we were facing a bright sunny day coming in from the opening of our tent. We were very glad to see that and ready to engage with our glaciological tasks. Our camp site was at the immediate fore field of the A. P. Olsen ice cap in Northeast Greenland. We had arrived there the previous evening and ...[Read More]

My drone summer – Johnny Ryan

Johnny Ryan December 9, 2014

UAV on its way back from a mission with Store Glacier, West Greenland, in the background. Credit: Johnny Ryan

In the summer of 2014, our group at Aberystwyth University and the University of Cambridge decided to pursue an ambitious but exciting field campaign in West Greenland. The aim was to survey Store Glacier once a day using a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (see photo above for a view from the UAV on its way back from a mission with Store Glacier, West Greenland in the background). The UAV ...[Read More]