What does field research look like? It’s not always glamorous, despite the beautiful icescapes and rugged living conditions. As a grad student whose research up until a few months ago mostly involved creating numerical models to solve nonlinear partial differential equations, the prospect of designing and building a field setup to measure permeability on the… Read More
A week from today, our FirnCover team assembles in Kangerlussuaq for a month-long traverse across Greenland’s vast interior ice sheet. The majority of prep-work, cargo shipments and customs hassles are done. A page-long “ToDo” list remains on my desk, the odds and ends of prepping science and tidying affairs before 5-6 weeks abroad. But sometimes in the din of… Read More
As the last week arrives, I am sure the rest of the team feels a flurry of emotions and thoughts as I do. Some are still scrambling to do last minute preparations with the equipment as there will be no second chances for shipments. The rush of excitement, the curiosity of meeting new team members that… Read More
One of the main things the FirnCover project studies is the way that increased meltwater has affected the densification of snow into ice on the Greenland ice sheet in a warming climate. In 2012 we made a discovery about the way that recent meltwater in parts of Greenland were rapidly expanding runoff on the ice… Read More
This short film was produced by CU graduate student, Barbara MacFerrin, as a final project for a Climate Change and Film class. It was one of 12 released during last night’s Film Fest, which received an Honorable Mention. Climate Change and Film is one of a two-course series offered at the University of Colorado, which… Read More
The first GEUS (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland) published article: “Observed melt-season snowpack evolution on the Greenland ice sheet“ regarding the 2012 extreme melt season, is now available online! In this small study, scientists are analyzing and interpreting “Snow Processes in the Lower Accumulation Zone” during the 2012 field campaign in Greenland. Authors are Charalampos (Babis) Charalampidis and Dirk… Read More
Much of the time on the ice is spent either drilling ice cores or processing them. … Read More
After a week of storm days, work, and flight delays, we had a free day that we spent exploring Dye-2. It was fascinating for all to see back into time. The latest date I found was June 1988.… Read More
by Achim Heilig The elevation at KAN-U is the is the lowest of all the sites we visited on the ice sheet at 1840 m asl (6037 ft asl), which consequently experiences the largest amount of melt. The ~3-hour, 65km (40 mi) traverse to KAN_U was a relatively smooth journey. Due to strong katabatic winds that morning, we… Read More
