The Ice Fjord

September 15 and 16

Illulissat, the Ice Fjord

Now that we are back below the 70th parallel we are in the “Northern Lights zone”. Last night (September 14) about midnight, the Lights appeared once again. We threw on some clothes (it was below freezing and breezy out on deck) to enjoy the show. 

We spent the morning and early afternoon of the 15th at Illulissat, the third largest town in Greenland (population about 6,000 with an equal number of sled dogs). Its name means “iceberg” in the local language. There have been Inuit settlements here for over 3,000 years. About a mile come town, Sermermiut was the largest Inuit settlement in Greenland. 

The Illulissat Ice Fjord runs west for 25 miles from the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet to Disko Bay. At the eastern end of the fjord is the Jalobshavn Isbrae glacier, the most productive in the northern hemisphere. The glacier flows an average of 80-100 feet per day (!) and spits out an estimated 20 billion tons of icebergs a year. The fjord is a World Heritage Site and the most popular tourist destination in Greenland. The fjord is full of icebergs of all sizes. Near the mouth of the fiord, enormous icebergs “bottom out” in a shallow area, which creates something of a wall, trapping smaller ones behind them. These large icebergs need to melt down or break up some before they can exit the fjord. The harbor is also full of icebergs, which gave our crew quite a slalom course as we arrived this morning. 

We took a 2.5 mile hike to the fjord. It included walking down a boardwalk to viewing areas above the fjord and then along the fjord and across the tundra to make a loop. The sun was warm and the sea calm, a lovely morning.

Science corner: these National Geographic / Lindblad trips are blessed with talented young naturalists with training and experience in geology, physiology, ornithology, geography and history. We benefit from their insights both when we are on land and in lectures during sea days. In addition, Lindblad offers the opportunity for young scientists to join a trip that aligns with their research area. This trip we have been joined by a young assistant professor whose research area is the Greenland Ice Sheet, including models and data collection on ice melting, ocean characteristics and sea level rise. He is part of a larger effort to deploy thousands of remote temperature and salinity sensors in the world’s oceans. He deployed another such unit during one of our zodiac cruises, and has been taking data nearly every day with a handheld device. It was a joy to hear about his work. 

In the evening, we were entertained by the ship’s hotel staff. Each group (housekeeping, kitchen, servers, etc) had their own act. All were very enjoyable and a few were hilarious. There was also a small rock band named the “Shackle-tunes” that played songs from a wide range of genres and decades. 

On Tuesday (September 16) we had a final hike on the shores of Itivdlip Ilua fjord. We have left ice and icebergs behind us. We enjoyed picking lowbush blueberries and crow berries as a hiking snack, and marveled at the diversity of lichens, mosses, heathers and mushrooms in the spongy trifle beneath our feet. We also studied the skulls of musk ox and caribou on the hillside, and watched an Arctic hare high up on a rocky slope above us. 

The balance of the day was spent cruising south to arrive in Nuuk before dawn tomorrow. The highlight for tonight was the guest photo slide show. Each guest was allowed to contribute four photos. Culling down to that number after a long trip was a real challenge! 

Pictured: northern lights with the stars shining through, deploying a sensor, blueberries, the breadth of the ice fjord, a “floating island” optical illusion 

A day outdoors

 September 14

We awoke to a sunny balmy day (3 Celsius) with very little wind. The ship pulled into a channel between the island of Upernivik and the mainland at Qiioqi. We took a two hour zodiac ride amidst beautiful icebergs and towering mountains. Mid ride, we stopped at a zodiac manned by the ship’s hotel manager and some of his staff dressed in polar bear costumes, for a cup of hot chocolate with Baileys.

The sheer scale of the cliffs and icebergs was hard to grasp until we saw the ship next to them. Each iceberg had its own unique beauty, and moving around to the back of each revealed additional features. The deep blue “cracks” are actually places where the ice has melted and refrozen. The refrozen ice is denser than the original glacier/ice cap ice. The original ice scatters the light and looks white, while the denser ice shows as blue. 

The patterns in the metamorphic rock (Greenland is comprised mostly of metamorphic rock) were stunning. The fjord was so calm that photographs of the reflections look like the cliff itself, just upside down. The layered colors of the cliffs became amazing artworks when wakes from the zodiacs interrupted the reflections in the water. 

During lunch the ship repositioned to the Kangerdlugssuaq fjord “next door” and we went hiking on the tundra. The ground underfoot had dense vegetation and a spongy feel.  There were more dwarf trees (the dwarf birch are a brilliant orange-red) and mosses than on prior walks, in addition to the rich variety of lichens and low-growing berries.  We were delighted when three rock ptarmigan flushed out of the vegetation and perched on a rocky ridge to be photographed. 

And because we just loved the picture, here is an iceberg that looks like Gandalf the Grey looking west…. 

Pictured: rock ptarmigan, colorful tundra, old sod-roofed hunting cabin, our ship dwarfed by icebergs and cliffs (with overnight ice in the foreground), the requisite gorgeous iceberg in the landscape, an example of a blue iceberg crack, wake driven reflection, Gandalf 

Autumn colors in a land without trees

 Saturday September 13

We spent the morning at Inigsulik Bugt, a very narrow channel between an island and the mainland of Greenland, with a section of the ice cap coming right down to the water.  Watching the ship navigate around icebergs and into the narrow bay, while the sun rose over the ice cap, was a special way to start the morning. The water was exceptionally still and clear, allowing views to the bottom of the fiord during Zodiac rides as we traversed through icebergs.

During lunch we navigated out of the Bugt and continued south in Melville Bay. The channel was so narrow, but deep, that the ship, at times, appeared to be only about 60 feet from the cliff wall. The cloudless blue sky and warm sun (despite an air temperature of -2 Celsius) gave wonderful reflections of the cliffs around us. Except for the icebergs, it looked like an autumn reflection in Vermont or Maine— oh, and except that there are no trees here.

One of the highlights of these trips is the dive team. The ship’s staff includes a pair of divers, who have gone down almost every day that we have stopped somewhere. Their video footage of kelp, jellyfish, odd polar marine invertebrates and even coral, is a highlight of the recap time before dinner. Today’s dive included sea butterflies (sweet and peaceful) and sea angels (aggressive predators) as well as cauliflower coral (a polar coral that does not build a reef). The coral was able to grow on an underwater cliff face that is concave. This structure protects the coral from being scraped off by an iceberg.

In this part of Greenland, we have returned to the land of icebergs with only some overnight sea ice. Icebergs come in many shapes and sizes, and it is amusing to associate real or imaginary creatures to their shapes.

Pictured: sunrise over the Greenland ice sheet, reflections of the (metamorphic) stone cliffs along the Bugt (2), today’s goblin head iceberg, ridges iceberg with the reflection distorted by the ship’s wake

Reflections of many sorts

 September 12

We have shifted to Greenland time, but we are far west in that time zone. This means that sunrise is at 8am and sunset at 11pm, a very asymmetrical day! On the other hand, this time of year, approaching the solstice, tends to draw out sunrise and sunset. This morning’s sunrise was particularly lovely. 

We spent the morning at Savissivik, a small village at the north edge of Melville Bay. Savissivik is also known as “meteorite  island”.  The Thule people established a community here in the 12th century, drawn by the availability of iron in the remnants of a large meteorite. The iron was “cold forged” (essentially beaten into shape) for arrowheads and small tools. In the very late 19th century, an American explorer (Robert E. Peary) came and convinced the Inuits to trade him their meteorite chunks (which weighed from 6,000 to 68,000 pounds each ) for rifles and cooking pots and other “goods”. The Inuit lost their source of iron and Peary sold the chunks for $40,000 (in 1900 dollars) to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. 

The harbor of Savissivik was full of small icebergs. Some of our colleagues kayaked amongst them this morning while others took zodiac cruises. We chose a gentle hike across the tundra to a small lake. We were amazed at how much more lush the lichen were here in the “south” (75th parallel) compared to farther north. Some spots were spongy with the intermingling of eight or more species of lichen.

At the lake, the edges had frozen but the center was still open. This confused a flock of Canada Geese, which landed on the frozen section by accident and had to practice their skating skills. The open water allowed great reflections of the snow and glacier covered mountains around us. 

As the ship continued south through Melville Bay this afternoon, we were offered tours of some of the operational parts of the ship. It was fascinating to see all the emergency equipment stored in each zodiac, including equipment to hoist a person that overboard back into the zodiac and special thermal blanks to keep them warm. The captain was a good sport and served as the example of how to rescue a person into the zodiac if they have fallen overboard. The ship also carries a special winch to allow an overturned zodiac to be flipped over in the water from a second zodiac.

After dinner the captain gave a presentation on the making of the ship. One of the key features is the structure of the bow which thrusts forward, trademarked as an X-bow. This design allows the ship to cut through rough waters more smoothly and efficiently than traditional designs. The bow design was inspired by how certain sea mammals efficiently move through rough seas.  Viking ocean going war ships and trading ships, dating to the 9th century, also had a front thrusting bow which allowed them to travel in rough seas, at times reaching speeds of up to 12 knots. However, those vessels did not have horizontal stabilizers, very comfortable cabins, or the many other amenities of our ship.

Pictured: lichen carpet, sunrise (2), reflections on the lake (2), finger ice on the edges of the lake

Qaanaaq, the world’s most northerly palindrome

September 11

We spent the full day in Qaanaaq. This Inuit community is near the US military base and is the furthest north settlement in West Greenland. It sits close to the Greenland Ice Sheet and has been inhabited for centuries. The earliest discovery of Thule culture artifacts was from this area. 

Qaanaaq has a large harbor at the mouth of a long fiord. There are a lot of icebergs in the channel, particularly at low tide. The tidal swing is large; when we arrived, many boats were sitting on the mud and we had a challenge to get from the zodiacs up to the pier. Qaanaaq is a thriving town of about 600 inhabitants. Over 200 children attend the school. There is a senior center where the residents live for free.

We learned a lot about their lifestyle and hunting methods; subsistence hunting is essential, and Greenland allows them to sell excess meat to one another (but not to non-Inuits). 

The sun goes below the horizon on October 24  and reappears on February 16. While this is called the polar night, for about a month on either end there is some light from the sun being just below the horizon.  They appreciate the polar night for the moonlight and starlight. 

The polar night corresponds to extensive sea ice, which enables long distance travel by dog sled.  They have different size sleds depending on how long they intend to hunt. It is too dark to use a rifle, but nets under the ice or harpoons through breathing holes can capture seals… important for feeding the dog teams. 

They camp by placing a tent over the sled, and sleeping up on the sled to be off the snow.  The tent poles are made from narwhal tusks. The hunters wear clothing made from seal and caribou hide shirts and polar bear hide pants. The clothing is custom fitted to the hunter as the fit is essential to retain warmth and movement. The clothing is hand stitched using narwhal sinew as the thread. Women and children’s clothing also features Arctic Fox fur.

The return of the sun is a cause for celebration. The ice starts to break up in April, with the harbor clearing in July.  Hunting shifts to kayaks. The kayaks are carried up the fiord on motor boats, but once the pods of narwhal are seen, the motors are turned off. It is essential the the kayakers paddle completely silently to approach the narwhal. A hand thrown harpoon snags the animal, and an inflated seal “float”ensures that it stays on the surface so it can be dragged back to the boat.

Each kayak is hand made to fit the hunter. 

There is a quota for the number of narwhals that can be taken each year, to ensure sustainability.  Boys start going out with the hunters as young teens, and in the summer hunting can become a family outing. There is clearly great pride in the Inuit culture and the Greenlandic language. 

A dozen teens were invited onto the ship for a tour. They clearly enjoyed meeting the captain and his crew — and especially getting to blow the ship’s horn! 

Pictured: Qaanaaq’s location looking from the North Pole perspective, the harbor at low tide, a view of the harbor at high tide, a view of the village Main Street, a boat carrying a kayak, a kayak complete with harpoons and seal float, two elders of the community in their traditional clothing, polar bear pants.

Back to Greenland

 September 10

The original plan for today was to exit Jones Sound during the night of September 9 and proceed north along the east coast of Ellesmere Island before crossing to Greenland on September 11th. However, strong north winds and the prevailing current brought pack ice down through the Nares Strait and into the western side of Baffin Bay. This ship is rated for travel through ice three feet thick, but the calculations by our ice pilot (and also by the Canadian Coast Guard) advised that it was too dangerous to proceed with the original plan. Overnight (and much of today) we traveled the 200 miles northeast to an area near the Thule Air Force base on the west coast of Greenland. The crossing was slowed by heavy seas and 30-40 knot winds from the north. 

Mid-afternoon we pulled into the sheltered end of the Barden Bugt fjord and went for a hike across a glacial morain. It was great to be outdoors again, on a sunny day at -0.5 Celsius. While we didn’t see much in the way of wildlife, we saw many excellent lichen and ice patterns on the streams we crossed in the tundra. 

What does it mean, to go for such a hike? First of all, all landings are “wet” meaning that the zodiac deposits you in the 1-2 feet deep water at the shoreline. So, first you put on a layer of long underwear, then a layer of normal clothes, then your parka, your waterproof pants, probably a hat, waterproof gloves and your muck boots— oh and of course your life jacket for the transit to shore. Sometimes you will still be cold on the way to shore, and sometimes there is spray during the zodiac ride to shore so camera equipment needs to be safely stored in a dry sack. Once you start hiking, you’ll start unzipping layers, at least until the wind picks up! 

Since it was a quiet day today, let’s talk about ice. 

There are two kinds of ice up here: glacial/ice cap/ iceberg ice, and sea ice. The first category is all fresh water ice, built over many years from snow. Much of central Greenland is a huge ice sheet, which is 1-2 miles thick, and is the source of the glaciers (rivers of ice) that in turn create icebergs when parts break off. Melting icebergs are an important source of fresh water introduction into the Arctic waters. The extent of the ice sheet and glaciers are also important to controlling climate, as their white surfaces reflect the sun’s radiation, while open ocean water (being dark) absorbs the radiation. 

Sea ice, on the other hand, is just what it sounds like: frozen sea water. Sea water freezes at 28.5 Fahrenheit rather than 32, and the act of freezing expels some salt, so the ice is less salty than the ocean it came from. Above the 75th parallel there can be perennial sea ice, which can be 12-40 feet thick. This polar ice cap recedes a bit in summer (September is traditionally the smallest extent) and increases in winter (March tends tub be the maximum extent). Overall there is less sea ice / polar ice cap now than 100 years ago. 

Sea ice comes in various forms. The first stage is “frazil ice” — ice so thin that it is flexible and waves can ripple the water underneath without disturbing the icy layer. “Grease ice” looks like an oil spill on the water and is slightly thicker. There are different intermediate stages of ice formation depending on wind conditions, for example “pancake ice” in windy conditions. 

“First year ice” is as it sounds, ice that has lasted through one winter. It is 3-6 feet thick but light can still penetrate. This allows a number of organisms to thrive underneath it, some even growing on the under surface of the ice floes. These zooplankton and phytoplankton form the basis of the entire food chain in the Arctic, and explain why predators also frequent the first year ice. 

The oldest and most persistent is “multi year ice” which forms much of the polar ice cap. Multi year ice tends to be so thick (up to 14 feet thick) that sunlight does not penetrate below it, so there is not much biomass in those areas.

“Pack ice” is a mix of this older ice and newer ice. It can include very high ridges (up to 60 feet high) formed when packs collide, making transportation even by dogsled or snowmobile a challenge. Pack ice can be continuous (especially after the winter) or exist as floating islands of ice. As we have seen, the pack ice is essential for seals and polar bears to survive. 

Pictured: Kevin ready for a hike, “pancake” ice, a landscape showing sea ice in front of a glacier in from is an ice sheet, a beautiful iceberg fragment, floating sea ice, crystalline “land ice” from a hike