MONITORING A GLACIER
An international team sets off on an extraordinary scientific adventure to the Russel Glacier. Their mission is to conduct studies on the texture of the ice. Join us on a journey to the beautiful tundra of Greenland.
A glacier is not just a giant block of ice. It has waterways and lakes running through it, and it moves over rock, scree and water. Its enormous power pushes it forward and also tears it apart. But how the huge ice mass of a glacier actually changes is still largely unknown. It's impossible to make any reliable predictions. Glaciologist Coen Hofstede and his small team of international scientists study the movement of the kilometre-thick Greenland ice sheet. They set up their base camp on the Russell Glacier, where they conduct their seismic studies. With a traditional wooden sled and high-tech measuring methods, the researchers record thousands of data signals, which they use to reconstruct the structure of the subsurface. Suddenly, the excited scientists discover signs of a sub-glacial lake in the middle of the ice sheet. A large lake within a glacier significantly changes the composition of the ice. Their experiment represents the first step towards discovering the inner structure of this glacier. The results of this research will make it possible to reliably predict glacial change in future and thus draw conclusions about the global climate.