Finally made it home! Having a beard and looking worn out caused me to be selected for special screening and pat downs.... a long journey home and I am grateful for the experience.
I finally made it home after about twenty hours of travel. My daughter Beth picks me up at the airport. My beard made for several random pat downs on the way back, all in good nature though.
I want to give special thanks to the third grade class at Chapman Hill elementary school who followed my journey and celebrated with a liquid nitrogen glacial icecream party! They tolerated all my teasing about Jens and Arla and came up with their own stories, pictures and poems which I include here.
Emma's drawing Peyton's poem.
Jens and Arla called for you
To get some more science to do.
They need your help....
I take a short trip up to the glacier to bid farewell. I am very grateful for the experience all the folks at Polartrec have given me, especially Kristin and Janet, who are wonderful Alaskan hosts!. Thanks to Robbie and Roy from Polar Services for their support and equipment.. Thank you to Miriam Jackson and Hallgeir Elvehoey for helping me in the tunnel and for getting around Norway! Thank you Denis for teaching me about your research on acoustics of rock cracking and the great ideas you gave me....Many thanks to Professor Neal Iverson for arranging to have me join his glacier group, many thanks to Pete Moore for his support of teachers and trusted advice on geology, many thanks to Ben for making the geology lessons easy and cribbage difficult, and to Knut for bringing in his...
It is the Seventeenth of May! Syttenda Mai! Or the Norwegian National Day. It is a day of spontaneous celebration by children everywhere in Norway. This is a really big deal here, a bit like fourth of July for us, but more of a celebration of the goodness of life and the joy of being a unified country. This day is adopted to celebrate the liberation at the end of WWII though it has historically been celebrated before this (see Wikipedia!) Every elementary school district has their own parade with colors and music and festivities. In Oslo, nearly 100,000 people march together on this day. Here the local district is from Halsa, a small town across the fjord. The kids gather and take the ferry across the fjord and celebrate with a parade down the dirt road leading to the tourist...
I will be leaving on the ferry in a few days and I am just exploring the area in these last days. Today I went over to the south side and hiked a bit. It is more rustic over there and it offers some different views. It is interesting to feel land locked here. The fjords in Norway are plentiful, and you can feel how isolated people would be without the ferry's to transport them around the steep glacier valleys.
There is a rope bridge for tourists to cross over the glacier stream. I am just a physics geek, thinking of the natural resonate frequency and happy that I do not have a class load of students jumping up and down right now.
From the south side you can see the steep mountains and the snow chutes that lead down to the walking path.
The south side has a bit more rocks to...
Today I hiked up to the glacier tongue with Knut and looked at the ice from close up. I was happy to get some pictures yesterday of the calm lake, which is a bit of a rarity because of the cold glacier near it. The winds from the cold air rushing down the slopes are known as Kadabatic winds (Greek for downhill), these are normal for glaciers because the cold air sinks to the lower elevations because it is denser. When it does this it kicks up a lot of dust which covers the end of the glacier with dirt. This can actually slow down the melting of the glacier by insulating it. Knut is kind to hike with me and teach me about the glacier, he has an amazing education and is a world traveler having been to all continents. His fluency in Norwegian and his technical background makes it...
Today I just enjoyed the glacier and took advantage of a very still morning to get some pictures of it reflecting off the lake.
Reflection off the lake.
Reflection off the lake.
Reflection off the lake.
Reflection off the lake.
Reflection off the lake.
Last of the reflection pictures, but here is a physics question. Why is it that the lake looks bluer than the sky?
Some very interesting bugs around here.
Today I took the time to explore the base of the glacier and the surrounding area, there is no real rush to get things done now as all that is left to do for the researchers is to perform the pump tests as soon as the ice completely oozes over the instruments. In about a week Pete, Knut and Ben will hike back up the glacier and go back into the tunnel for a few days. There they will take a pressure washer and pump water under the glacier. The water hopefully will spread out under the ice rather than leak back through a crack. If they are successful this will cause the glacier to slide just a small amount. Knut has accelerometers installed around the glacier and under it so he will be able to monitor any slippage. By that time I will fly back home. So now I am just trying to learn...
Today Luke departed on the ferry in the afternoon on his way back to Penn State. Victor worked on the radar imaging and is very concerned that he may not be able to make his system work in time for the next available helicopter. The electronics he has designed for his PhD thesis is quite complicated and uses a unique technique for radar imaging that would be cool to see work. He has by-passed a few attenuators and an amplifier in hopes that he can fly on Friday to collect data, it is all part of science, most of the time things do not work as planned. I walked to the moraine in the valley next to this one, from there you can see the ice cap and other glaciers. It is a much more rustic moraine than the one I am in, it is not developed for tourism. The interesting thing is that one...
We exited the tunnel today and headed to the base of the glacier where we will stay in a cabin while the ice oozes into the cavity. Ben and Pete will return to the tunnel to administer the pump tests while I will head back before then. The trip down the glacier was scenic and slow... I had too much in my pack but managed on wobbly knees. It is a remarkable feeling to get out of the tunnel, you suddenly are filled with the sights and sounds of living things. The glacier brings life to the valley below, from the flowers and the grass to the eagles above. The scenery is stunning. As we descend Ben and Pete tell me about the geology of the region, including the Boodinage or sausage link formations made of a band of quartz embedded in the schist. Ben finds a very interesting double recumbent...
Well today marks the last day for me in the tunnel, tomorrow we head down the hill to the cabins below. It is a Norwegian holiday, their national day, and no one is available to supervise the tunnel. So today we just hauled the garbage to the helicopter and tidied up a bit in the lab. Pete checked his instruments to see if they still were recording and Ben took time to fix a few things. I am not clear on my internet connection for the next days, but I hope to see the rest of the glacier and make my way back to Oregon in these last days.
The helicopter arrived right on time and we hauled the garbage out of the tunnel. The Penn State group will be flying over this glacier shortly with the helicopter and a radar imaging device. They will be able to peer through the ice and see the...
I took some time today to get a lesson from Ben about the rocks that are in the tunnel. We have been finding some rocks that are encrusted with garnets, and some that have interesting cleavage planes. Some are pink, many have large crystals, and some flake off easily. For a novice like me it is very confusing to look at what I usually pass over for "just another rock" and take a closer look to learn about the formation of these rocks millions of years ago.
Probably the first thing that struck me when looking at these rocks and minerals is that you should not imagine them as they are right now. When they formed in volcanic magma flows they were much hotter than they are now and, depending on their depth, they were under tremendous pressure. If you have ever seen a glassblower take...
The day began with the phone ringing early.... the phone in the tunnel is really a large electric bell that resonates quite loud. It is the Copenhagen group. They are eight researchers who have traveled here last night from the University at Copenhagen to look at the Svartisen Sub-Glacier laboratory. Dr. Miriam Jackson of NVE wants to promote the use of the lab to interested parties and has invited this group here to view the facilities and the ice. They are an diverse group of researchers, some established, some Post-Doc students looking for new ideas. Their research involves different things, such as drilling ice core samples in Greenland or computer modeling of ice flow. All of them are intensely passionate about what they do, and love the outdoors. We are only allowed to have 8...
Today the ice closed in on the vertical chamber completely and in a last moment Ben attempted to get some data on the closure rate. He found a curved section of ice and repeated diameter measurements over a period of several hours. It is amazing in the short amount of time how much the ice actually can move. The pressure of 600 feet of solid ice really amazes me, I cannot even imagine what the rock under glaciers thousands of meter thick must feel. It is no wonder that valleys are carved throughout the world this way, glaciers have a tremendous influence on the shape of continents. Later in the day I help out with the accelerometers. After testing it appears two of them are not recording correctly. A closer inspection shows that when we lowered the cables through the granite we...
Today the task was to melt the ice in the vertical chamber for the last time and install the accelerometer cables before the ice encloses the area again. Already the friction plate that we installed the day before has partially been encased in ice. We take advantage of the open chamber to snap our last photos with the blue ice. This part of the chamber will likely be sealed off tomorrow because of the narrow passageway between the two main chambers of the ice.
The connecting tunnel to the vertical shaft chamber area has just enough room to get through. Behind me is where the accelerometers will be installed.
As the ice cave is melted, the glacier has no pressure on one side so the ice begins to buckle, and here the sediment layer has turned vertical.
The melting has made a large...
Today's goal was to get the instrument panel back into the vertical shaft. To get an idea of what this means you have to imagine a 200 pound square object, very difficult to hold, with delicate sensors on-board, that must carted across a stream, carried up a narrow flight of seventy stairs and jostled into position through a narrow granite tunnel. And that is only the beginning. Once in place it must be hoisted up twenty feet or so with cables and winches and then stabilized with steel girders. It is a lot of work, and takes the group at least a half day. You can see the process in the pictures below. It is definitely the wettest day of all because you have to stand under the quick draining glacier. For some reason it seems the granite has sprung a bunch of new leaks everywhere and...
With the instrument panel safely in the lab now it is Pete and Denis's job to clean it thoroughly and repair the load sensors. As they are doing that Miriam is up in the ice cave taking a sample of the sediment that has frozen itself into the ice. As the gradation of the rocks occurs from the glacier sliding it makes a lot of fine particles of rock that oddly get mixed into the ice in large layered bands. Miriam will later look at the density of the sediment and the rock sizes to get information about the glacier. She has sampled in the same place over multiple years. The ice core samples are long vertical chunks of ice that she dislodges with a chain saw. It is pretty loud in the cave, and these electric chain saws are four times more powerful that the ones in the US because they...
The day began with a quick breakfast and a walk to the tunnel to start the melting process again. There are a number of rocks that have fallen, tons of debris that have floated along the water way to clear and bore holes to ream. The bore holes are long holes drilled through the granite into the ice which are used to connect instruments. They are full of small rocks and ice and are difficult to get debris free. they require constant working and reworking. An interesting feature on the floor of the opening is an ice bed that has buckled up under pressure. Remember the ice is under terrific pressure down here and in this form it oozes and fills in any void or cavity. When we remove the ice from above the layer of ice below was pressed on the left and right and had no place to go but up...
I went to the lab and finished soldering the batteries together. Mark and Denis worked on the melting of the horizontal shaft, they are trying to get to the vertical shaft. They come and get me because they turned off the hot water for a bit and the steam has settled enough that you can see the beauty of the glacier ice. It is a deep clear blue color, smoothed by the water in a pillow like wall of ice. The very bottom of the glacier is a mix of sediment and debris but there is a sudden line of clear glacier ice, often you see lines like this on icebergs that have calved into the ocean. The blue ice has a magical appearance when illuminated with a flood light. The blue is caused by the absorption of red light by the ice, leaving only blue to scatter about back into your eye. The day...
Today was focused on melting the horizontal chamber and on instrumentation. With the panel pulled from the vertical shaft there is time to look at the instruments that are used to measure the glacier's movement, The sensing instruments are the whole reason for going to this elaborate work! And it is a lot of work! Imagine having to fly all these scientists here, house them safely, feed them, provide electricity, let alone dig miles of tunnels through solid rock!
This is the beginning of the melt process, the melt has progressed about ten feet into the glacier, it is all very dirty ice at the bottom because of the sediment.
I was told that there are upwards of 100km of tunnels through the mountains here that are used to collect water.
The melting process is just spraying hot water...
The day started at 8 am with the regular meal of salami, bread and cheese... and then it was all work. We have to get water to the pump so that melting of the glacier ice can begin and lights to illuminate the tunnel. The water is brought up from the side tunnel that is used to funnel water to the power station, a simple sump pump works great and fills a small reservoir by the lab. It is really good tasting water although it has a lot of silt from the grinding of the glacier on the
bed rock. The power company makes sure to take the river of water flowing in the tunnel and let the silt settle in a collecting pond until it is sent down to the station. There is a catwalk where you can view it all. The lights illuminate a flight of some seventy stairs that lead to a really unlikely...
Today we checked out of the hotel and left immediately for Svartisen glacier. It is a two hour drive South toward Glomsfjord where we will meet the helicopter pilot who will take our gear (and us!) to the tunnel entrance. We are joined by Hallgeir Elvehoey who is the person in charge this week for NVE, the Norwegian water authority. This tunnel was built and maintained under their guidance, and it is their responsibility to operate it safely. When scientists are in the tunnel
a NVE rep must be present at all times. Hallgeir is a glaciologist who has a very easy going personality (actually all Norwegians seem to be easy going) and he is extremely knowledgeable about geology. He asks us to stop at the old Glumsfjord Kraftverk power station where he needs to pick up some gas cans for...
This morning Mark did the logistic calls for the helicopter to pick up the supplies and us near Glomfjord. It is getting a
bit complicated because we don't want to get meat a day before and have it spoil. So scheduling things to within an hour is
very important, there is a rental car to return, and last minute supplies to get as well as darkness and bus rides.... lots
of things to get right.
I spent some time in Bodo (boo-dah is the closest I can pronounce it), I went out to the jetty and watched the ferries come in, it is funny to see the bus station is aligned with the ferry station. A ferry ride around here is a logical and efficient way to navigate the coastline. Boats are constantly coming in and out of Bodo, I even watched a tug pull a complete silo out to sea. Bodo is a...
We spent the day getting hardware supplies and groceries for a month. Preparation for a trip is one of Mark's expert skills because he is field camp instructor. He is very precise about all his work and has thought out the details on a day to day basis. Mark had a long to-do list. So it was one check-off after another. First on the list was picking up the van, a Mercedes diesel (automatic) with a bench seat in the front and all cargo space in the back. We will drive down to Glomfjord on Friday to load the helicopter and lift the supplies to the tunnel entrance on the glacier. The plan is to leave the van there and start the glacier work then.
Enough room in this diesel for three up front and cargo only in the back.
I enjoy a Calvin and Hobbes (I think), it is in Norwegian and...
Jens and I grab a bite to eat and we are off to Oslo.....It is about an eight hour flight, slightly delayed. Again, I am lucky to get a window seat with a great view of the Atlantic seaboard. I take a short nap and wake up flying over some beautiful snow covered mountains, below is my first glimpse of Norway. I am stunned at the amount of snow on the remnant of this ice cap. It is similar to my feeling when I looked out the window for the first time when flying over Antarctica... a link is added here to my journal that details the science of ozone research there.
http://tea.armadaproject.org/lampert/8.21.2003.html
This photo was taken from a C17 flying over the continent of Antarctica, it was my first view of this ice covered place. The complete journal is at http://tea....
Today I left Salem, Oregon heading to my first destination, Bodo, Norway. It has been a year since I first learned I would be part of Professor Iverson's research group studying the seismic movement of the Svartisen glacier located just three hours away from Bodo, lying almost directly on the Arctic Circle. I have read many books on glaciers, trying to understand how exactly they form and what physics dictates the frictional forces involved in their movement. I have been left with more questions than answers so I soon look forward to witnessing a glacier firsthand, from deep underneath its frozen but viscous structure, while I learn from the experts in the field.
This map shows the relative location of Bodo, Norway on the Arctic Circle, the Svartisen glacier is located just a few...
