Summer 2017 seriously challenged the idea that summer in SW Greenland has a reliably stable, clear, dry meteorology. Our field work was characterized by unpredictable swings between weather extremes from blizzards dropping 1ft of snow in an evening to bright sunshine and low wind, to rain and tens of centimeters of surface lowering in a … Continue reading Storm at Camp Bloom
Category: Cryosphere
Posts relating to ice and snow science
On the ice with the BBC
The BBC Science team joined us for our first twenty-four hours on the ice this year, documented our work on algal darkening of the Greenland Ice Sheet. This started in the dusty town of Kangerlussuaq, where I took David Shukman, Kate Stephens and Jonathon Sumberg out to Russell Glacier. There, while I flew the drone … Continue reading On the ice with the BBC
Frontiers Paper: Albedo products from drones
A new paper, led by Johnny Ryan, shows that a consumer grade digital camera mounted to a drone can be used to estimate the albedo of ice surfaces with an accuracy of +/- 5%. This is important because albedo measurements are fundamental to predicting melt, but satellite albedo data is limited in its spatial and … Continue reading Frontiers Paper: Albedo products from drones
New AGU paper: Microbes change the colour and chemistry of Antarctic snow
In recent decades there has been a significant increase in snow melt on the Antarctic Peninsula and therefore more 'wet snow' containing liquid water. This wet snow is a microbial habitat In our new paper, we show that distance from the sea controls microbial abundance and diversity. Near the coast, rock debris and marine fauna … Continue reading New AGU paper: Microbes change the colour and chemistry of Antarctic snow
New TCD paper: Dark ice on Greenland Ice Sheet
Our new discussion paper, led by Black and Bloom PDRA Andrew Tedstone, examines in detail why there is a stripe of dark, fast-melting ice on the Greenland Ice Sheet, particularly in the south-west. This 'dark zone' is clearly visible in satellite imagery of the Greenland Ice Sheet and is important because darker ice melts faster. … Continue reading New TCD paper: Dark ice on Greenland Ice Sheet
Bioalbedo: new model and TCD paper
I'm very pleased to report our new paper is now in open discussion in The Cryosphere. The paper presents a new model for predicting the spectral bioalbedo of snow and ice, which confirms that ice algae on ice surfaces can change its colour and by doing so enhance its melt rate ("bioalbedo"). We also used … Continue reading Bioalbedo: new model and TCD paper
Arctic Deeply Article
I had the pleasure of talking to science journalist Rhiannon Russell about life on ice, and she wrote an article about it... Link here This follows on from another article on the same site by Black and Bloom PI Martyn Tranter, link here Thanks Rhiannon!
Video: Alive and Well: Microbes Add to Melting of Greenland Ice Sheet
Peter Sinclair and Yale Climate Connections have released an excellent video detailing the role of microbial life in driving Greenland Ice Sheet melt, featuring several researchers from the Dark Snow Project and Black and Bloom. We were lucky enough to have Peter with us for a couple of days at the beginning of our trip in … Continue reading Video: Alive and Well: Microbes Add to Melting of Greenland Ice Sheet
Svalbard UAV: Lessons learned
Here are a few things I learned after ten days of field testing the UAV multispectral data acquisition in Svalbard... Video showing take off in stabilize mode, switch to loiter mode at about 5 m, quick control test then into automatic mission. 1. The UAV is surprisingly robust. The aircraft was transported to the sites … Continue reading Svalbard UAV: Lessons learned
Svalbard UAV tests
Having made successful UAV test flights at home in the Peak District, we have relocated to Svalbard for a week to test the equipment in the most challenging possible conditions. We are flying in temperatures as low as -10 C, in gusty wind and after pulling the UAV to the field site in its flight … Continue reading Svalbard UAV tests
To The Poles 