Flade Isblink Ice Cap dynamic online map

Hi folks,

Happy New Year! I thought I'd kick-off 2016 by linking to a dynamic story map that I made using ArcGIS online to present the recent history of Flade Isblink ice cap in NE Greenland. Watch this space for future updates! . 

Subglacial lake drainage detected in Greenland!

3D data of Humboldt glacier margin

Hi folks, 

I haven't posted for ages, but I thought I'd try embedding some results from a new technique Tim Barrows (Exeter) and I have been working with - structure from motion. 

 

HBT Margin1 by Steven Palmer on Sketchfab

Subglacial lakes discovered in Greenland

Land of fire and ice...

My first Arctic fieldwork experience was on Vatnajokull - Iceland's largest ice cap. In October 2008, I was part of a small team from The University of Edinburgh who went out to test a new scientific radar in preparation for fieldwork in Antarctica the following year. 

We travelled to Grimsvotn - where a volcanic caldera lies under the ice - in order to investigate how quickly the heat from below was melting the ice.

Transport to the field site was provided by monster trucks driven by two Icelandic guys, both named Hlynnur. It quickly became apparent why they always travel in pairs, when one of the trucks fell into a crevasse and we needed the other one to yank it out with a tow-rope!

After a long day of crossing heavily crevassed glaciers we made it to Grimsfjall hut, which we had to 'de-ice' before we could get inside.

Finally, we were able to settle in to what would be our home for the next week. Over the following 24 hours we experienced a storm which confined us to the hut, after which we were able to get out and conduct our fieldwork as planned.

  

Right, where do I begin...

It is the first week of the new year - a time for beginnings. So it seemed an appropriate time to begin the blog I've been planning to start for some time...and here we are. Here I'll be blogging about my upcoming fieldwork in Northern Greenland, as well as posting about previous fieldwork in the Polar Regions. I plan to keep the text brief and the pretty photos plentiful...