From June to August 2014, we spent summer in Qaanaaq in northwestern
Greenland for the third field campaign of the GRENE Arctic
project. Highlight in this field season was hot water drilling on
Bowdoin Glacier as a collaborative work with a research team from ETH
Zurich, Switzerland. We also performed ocean measurements in from of
the glacier to investigate the role of the ocean in the recent rapid
changes in calving glaciers. Monitoring activity was continued on
Qaanaaq Ice Cap.
In July, we flew into Bowdoin Glacier and transported several tons of materials
by a helicopter. The drilling system was set up at 2 km from the
calving front and the first borehole was drilled on July 16. The
weather condition was unstable, but we succeeded to drill three
boreholes before we left the glacier on 30 July. Sensors were
installed in the boreholes for subglacial and englacial
measurements.
In front of Bowdoin Glacier, we measured ocean bed geometry and water
properties. Our measurements were carried out from a boat operated by
Toku Ohshima, a woman known for her outstanding skills of
hunting. Thanks to her careful and skillful boat operation, we got
data from the fjord filled which was covered with icebergs discharged
from the glacier.
