This project will study the spatial and temporal variability of the landfast ice around Station Nord. Two autonomous ice mass balance buoys will be deployed in conjunction with moorings during leg 1 and record air, ice, snow and water temperatures, air pressure, surface winds, snow depth and ice thickness for one year. This will reveal the annual cycle and temporal variability of the landfast multiyear ice pack around Nord. The spatial variability of ice thickness and snow depth will be sampled in conjunction with the CTD transects, during which an Electromagnetic Induction system and a Ground Penetrating Radar system will be towed behind sleds and measure continuously. Repeat sampling of these transects will occur during Leg 2 and 3 to supplement observations of the seasonal melt around Nord. Coordinated airborne surveys by Operation IceBridge and the Alfred Wegner Institute will expand our observations, while our on the ice sampling will be used to validate and improve the accuracy of these large international projects. 

Field site: Villum Research Station, Station Nord, Greenland

PI: David Barber (CEOS)

Project lead: David Babb (CEOS)

Fieldwork summary/photo blog