I’d be hard pressed to find a better way to decompress from my NASA-HERA mission than a field expedition to the Arctic. I went from 6 weeks in a 600 square foot pod to 2 weeks in the vast expanses of Greenland’s fjords and tundra. And it was wonderful. I’ll share some photos and experiences here.
From June 29 to July 11, 2018, I traveled with a research group from University of Massachusetts to South Greenland in a scientific campaign to calibrate paleoclimate proxies. The overarching goal of the project, which is led by UMass professors Isla Castañeda and Ray Bradley, is to test the hypothesis that climate change may have forced the exodus of Norse settlers from Greenland around the year 1450 AD. Sediment cores have already been collected, and our efforts this field season were to collect soil, sediment, and plant samples in order to improve our understanding of leaf wax and GDGT systematics in these Arctic systems.
Our team consisted of myself (Postdoc, fresh out of the space pod), Isla (UMass professor, geochemist, paleoclimatologist), Boyang Zhao (UMass graduate student working on the Greenland project), and my father JD (horticulturalist and tundra tank – lugging science gear, identifying plants, soaking up the scenery).
- Our trusty truck and rafts at Lake 578
- The crew in the Norse ruins.
- A view of the Ice Fjord from the Igaliku Plateau. (Photo: IC)
- Sillisit Icebergs (Photo: IC)
In Greenland, we arrive and depart from the town of Narsarsuaq. Our work was done in the nearby villages of Igaliku, Sillisit, and Qassiarsuk. Travel between the towns is via a combination of boat (weaving through a maze of icebergs in Tunulliarfik Fjord) and 4 wheel drive truck (bouncing over one lane dirt/rock roads along the coast). Travel to our field sites is largely by foot.
- Unloading the boat in Sillisit (Photo: IC)
- The sheep-farming roads get the job done, but aren’t always the easiest to drive on. Here it passes right through a lake. Isla handled it like a pro with the 4-wheel drive.
- Lugging gear (Photo: IC)
- Hitchhiking in Qassiarsuk is unlikely, but we tried anyway. I don’t think we saw a car the entire day (Photo: JD)
- Barely out of town and already consulting the map. Oh boy. (Photo: IC)
- Isla and Boyang inadvertently herd sheep on the walk home
While not technically within the Arctic Circle, this region felt arctic. It snowed during our first night there. The days were long, and it never really got dark while we were there. The weather was mostly gray, with occasional rain and occasional blue skies. Temperatures were about 50°F. Basically, the perfect summer weather in my opinion 🙂 The food was superb – roast lamb and sheep, fresh fish (cod and trout, I think), tundra berries, tundra tea. ANGELICA in nearly everything!
Our team of 4 worked hard, lugging our boats, Ekman sampler, hydrolab, buoys, and sediment traps around the tundra. Our electric boat motor crapped out after the first day, so we used muscle power and a graciously-lent set of paddles to navigate the lakes. We’re tough.
- Isla, Boyang, and JD inspect the interval sediment trap.
- Boyang and the interval sediment trap
- Boyang preps the interval trap (Photo: IC)
- Rigging the sediment trap (Photo: IC)
- Will and Boyang deploy the interval trap (Photo: IC)
- JD identifies some tundra plants next to Igaliku Lake
- Boyang is happy to be back at his PhD lakes
- Our research vessels at Igaliku Lake (aka The Lake By Mickey’s Farm)
- Collecting lake sediments from a rubber raft. A classic pastime in geolimnology.
- JD, Boyang, and Isla head out to deploy the Hydrolab and Ekman sampler.
- We sampled rain or shine. Here is Isla next to ancient Norse ruins.
- Boyang poses next to one of his PhD lakes.
- Isla and Boyang collect samples from ancient shoreline/beach deposits.
- Isla sampling dirt on a rainy day (Photo: JD)
- Scientifically sampling a higher-elevation pond.
- JD untangles rope (again) at Lake SI-101 (Photo: IC)
- JD gets comfortable on the zodiak (Photo: IC)
- Ekman success (Photo: IC)
- Will and Boyang program the Hydrolab (Photo: IC)
- Taking shelter on a rainy day in a makeshift shelter (Photo: IC)
- Sample success! (Photo: IC)
- JD and Boyang haul in a sediment trap (Photo: IC)
- Field lunch: Rye bread, canned fish, and cookies. Yum. (Photo: JD)
- JD makes another plant ID (Photo: IC)
There was time in each village after completing our tasks and in the evenings when we could explore. We were blessed with magnificent scenery – icebergs rolling over in the fjord, flocks of lambs and ewes scattered around the hills, huge mountains hidden in the clouds, lakes perched in unexpected places, fields of blooming buttercups, tongues of the Greenland Ice Sheet. I became accustomed to seeing sheep everywhere we went.
- Sod-houses in Qassiarsuk, reconstructed in the Norse tradition.
- On our last day in Greenland, while waiting for the next plane out, we went for an epic hike that involved rope-assisted climbing.
- Isla hanging out next to the Greenland Ice Sheet.
- Hanging out with Leif Eriksson. He was born in Iceland, but grew up in Qassiarsuk
- JD and Boyang consult the map and make a plan.
- Arctic lakes make us happy.
- En route to the IceFjord
- Glacial erratics and fresh snow in Igaliku
- Kelp! cf. Saccharina longicruris (ID credit: Arley Muth)
- Boyang feeding lambs.
- Isla feeding lambs.
- JD is not feeding lambs quickly enough.
- Lamb-feeding lessons with French anthropologist, Pia (Photo: IC)
- Will feeding lambs (Photo: IC)
- Dad, the shepherd? I’m not sure about that. Object-of-interest perhaps.
- More sheep. And blue skies!
- Igaliku
- Hostel quarters in Narsarsuaq (Photo: JD)
- JD gets comfortable on the zodiak (Photo: IC)
- Contemplation along the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet (Photo: IC)
- Will and Isla at the Narsaruaq glacier (Photo: IC)
- A flooded bridge won’t stop me from getting to the glacier (Photo: IC)
- Boyang makes a friend in Qassiarsuk (Photo: IC)
- Lewis and Clark pose (Photo: IC)
One of the highlights of the trip was definitely bottle-feeding baby lambs in Qassiarsuk.
In the end, our scientific goals were accomplished. We successfully found all our sediment traps and re-deployed new ones. The samples we brought home will help Boyang interpret the sediment core records he is generating. I’m grateful for the chance to see another part of the Arctic and to be part of such an interesting project. Now, onto the laboratory analyses – lots more work to do!
Now for some pictures with icebergs: