Racing icebergs at the top of the world
The MV Arctic Sunrise off Greenland ? Greenpeace/Morton
Dave is onboard the Arctic Sunrise, heading north up the coast of Greenland.
Blue and white icebergs are looming through the sea mist as I write this, fromthe campaign office of the Arctic Sunrise, in Baffin Bay.Our ship – an old sealing vessel – is just south of the wonderfully named DiskoIsland, or Qeqertarsuaq, off the west coast of Greenland.A seal just popped its head up, to check out who is passing by. And we justcrossed the Arctic Circle.
We’re heading north along the west coast of Greenlandin a race against time. Our destination is the disintegrating PetermannGlacier, one of Greenland’s largest and mostnortherly glaciers. An 87 square kilometer chunk of ice – larger than New York’s ManhattanIsland – is due to crackoff from the glacier in the coming weeks. We intend to be there when it happens.Follow the expedition on twitter: @gparctic
To reach Petermann we need to navigate the Nares Strait.At the top of the strait is an ice bridge which holds back the Arctic Seaice, stopping it from blocking the narrow passage. So we’re now in a raceagainst the climate – with the warmer sea and air in the Arctic, the ice bridgecould break earlier in the year than ever, letting a deluge of sea ice into the narrow channel which would make progress furthernorth impossible. If we successfully get through, the Arctic Sunrise will beone of the first ships to navigate the strait so early in the year.
On board we’re got a diverse, international crew, hailing from countriesthat include China, India, Australia,New Zealand, the Ukraine, the US,Canada, Cyprus, UK,Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands. Ice navigators,captains, engineers, cooks, filmmakers, ice climbers and climatologists.
Ours is a three-month Arctic expedition to bear witness to the acceleratingimpacts of climate change and conduct scientific research that will help usbetter understand its ongoing effects the Greenland ice sheet, and rising sealevels. We’ve already got glacier and climate expert Jason Box on board – thefirst of several scientists we’ll be working with during this trip, which willreach way beyond the normal realms of scientific research.
After Petermann, we plan to head to Greenland’seast coast to research the effects of warm sub-tropical waters of the island’sglaciers. Finally, as the Arctic ice reaches its annual low point, the expeditionwill push into the melting pack ice north of the island of Svalbard.
You can follow the expedition on our blog, the Greenpeace Climate Rescue blog,and on Twitter: @gparctic Also, check out the ArcticSunrise Webcam to see where we’re at.