On 4-10-13 Operation IceBridge flew a mission on the western side of Greenland through more stunning scenery. Even the veteran pilots were pointing to things and smiling a lot. They really like the kind of flying required by IceBridge.
Much of the time was spent over the Jakobshavn glacier. If you follow the link, scroll down a bit to find the professionally produced video with some educational narration. It’s well worth the time to go NASA’s Multimedia site and download the high resolution video. I promise it’s worth the time and effort to watch it in HD.
My time here with NASA’s Operation IceBridge is half over. On one hand I would like more time. I want to see more and learn more, and bring that back to my students. On the other hand, I miss my family terribly. We try to Skype or use Google+ Hangouts, but it’s not the same when you can’t reach out and touch them. There is no substitute for physical contact. Kids need parents and I need my kids. I kinda miss my wife and Jake, the dog, too. (Don’t worry, my wife understands my sense of humor … I hope.)
With that, I leave you with a video and lots of photographs to remind us all that we live on an amazingly wondrous planet and share it with some truly brilliant people. Enjoy a little of what I’ve gotten to experience …
Flying at 300' through a fjord with mountains over 3,000' on either side is thrilling. Oh yeah, we're also doing really amazing science. I like this photo because you can see Lt. Cmdr. Cathy Martin's U.S. flag patch reflected in her window. She has literally flown through hurricanes with the Hurricane Hunters of NOAA.
The Jacobshavn glacier is enormous. Glaciers drain regions of the ice sheet in the same sense that rivers have drainage areas.
IceBridge maps continental glaciers (ice sheets), valley glaciers, and sea ice.
Just out of sight is the town of Ilulissat near the Jacobshavn glacier.
The Jacobshavn glacier is one of the fastest moving glaciers on earth, flowing as much as 100' in a single day.
It's hard to appeciate the scale -- the cliff on the calving front is about 200' high.
The Jacobshavn is huge -- it's like the Amazon of Greenlandic glaciers, so IceBridge is very interested in how it is changing. And it's changing rapidly.
Everywhere today, the scenery was simply incredible.
There are thousands of glaciers in Greenland, so it's the perfect lab for glaciologists. Not all labs are indoors!
Flying through a fjord is like living a video game. Study science and THIS could be your office window.
Yes, more incredible scenery. Are you tired of it yet? Nor am I. And neither are the NASA folks -- they get excited about the views, too!
I caught this view out of the DMS window. What's a DMS? You better go back and read the last journal.
Fjords are typically shallow where they empty into a larger body of water. On the left side of the photo, you can see a lot of icebergs run aground in the shallows.
A close up of the iceberg jam.
Everywhere you look, there are glaciers flowing toward the ocean.
An iceberg sticking about 75' out of the water and towering mountains in the background ... and we're doing science!
You can see the uplift in the rock strata here.
We literally fly up and down glaciers, following their terrain features, sometimes climbing steeply and sometimes dropping sharply.
I had no idea glacial ice was so varied in texture, color, and pattern.
Comments