Meltfactor.org

The helicopter charter option to reach Petermann Glacier, the one we’ve been developing for weeks now, has dematerialized. As time is nearly out, before myself, Alun, and Richard need to return to our mid-latitude lives, we develop an alternative charter plan.  The charter flight would occur Thursday, 9 September. The aircraft would re-position from Thule AFB to Qaanaaq and head north to Petermann. Operable scenarios include: 1.) we use a volunteer in Qaanaaq to simply grab instruments or 2.) I get up to Qaanaaq on Wednesday 8 September. The main problem with 2.) is that the northbound flight is fully booked. I may proceed with the gamble that not all people show up for the flight and I can get on the flight and head north. Even if, the southbound flight on 15 September (flights are once per week) is also fully booked. So, we continue to consider options. Monday, I’ll speak with booking agents at Air Greenland. If I were to go north, my return home would be delayed a week.

I take advantage of the delay time here in Uummannaq to process a backlog of last year’s photos of Petermann Glacier that I shot during last year’s campaign. With a very nice camera/lens on loan from James Balog, I pressed the button to shoot more than 20,000 photos. I believe I have enough photos to publish a comprehensive illustrated assessment of this place…

July 2009. The endless summer days at 81 degrees north latitude produce substantial summer melting. While summer melting is not necessarily abnormal, melt intensity is expected to continue to increase as the global climate system responds to continued atmospheric loading of heat trapping gasses.

The Petermann Glacier medial river barely trickles out to sea. It’s not a stronger flow because it’s intercepted about 20 km upstream (in the distance) where the river pours into a breach in the surface called a moulin.

The shearing of the ice along the fjord walls occurs too quickly for the ice to deform. The shearing strength of the ice shelf is exceeded and rifts form as the ice tears apart. This is a normal process. The rifts are, of course, weak areas on the ice shelf. Petermann ice shelf has detached a large area along recently along one of these rifts. Melt water filling the rifts weakens the bonds, literally forcing apart the rift bottom.

…getting xcited…making progress on planning summer 2009 sailing voyage to Greenland plans. The boat (Gambo) will be making her way north from soon. The cruise from Motevideo, Uraguay to Maine will take roughly 70 days. I’m probably too busy to participate in that leg. I will instead continue pre-planning from here in the US.

in-earnest planning now begins for the summer 2009 Greenland sailboat voyage with Dr. Alun Hubbard of U. Wales. See earlier post. In a nutshell, the purpose of the trip is obtaining observations in support of holistic glacier studies while spending quality time in beautiful places.

Immediately on the list is identifying equipment to procure in the coming months and which port suits our need to hoist Gambo out of water for installation of bathymetry sensors on the hull.

I’m taking charge of the day by day itinerary. Presently, on the hit list (chronological order) is:

• Maine coast

• Halifax, Nova Scotia
• Labrador Peninsula. The area was known by the Norse as Markland.
• The Norse settlement L’anse aux meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland is notable for possible connections with the attempted colony of Vinland established by Leif Ericson around 1003, or more broadly with the Norse colonization of the Americas. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, a.k.a. “Nuuk York”
• Manitsoq
• Sisimiut, second largest Greenland settlement, here potentially, Alun +1 go to Kangerlussuaq to work on the Russell Glacier
• Qasigiannguit (Christianshåb)
• Ilulissat; here, potenteilly, a helicopter charter to nearby Extreme Ice Survey time lapse camera
• Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn) on Disko Is.
• Uummannaq, our base of operations during our month in the region. Smaller Uummannaq district settlements include: Saattut; Ikerisak; Illorsuit; and Nuugatsiaq.
• where we go after Uummannaq remains unresolved. However, it does seem clear that Gambo needs to go south, with some of the crew; back to the US?; to overwinter in a south Greenland port?; to Wales?

I’ll add target dates very soon.