Svalbard

Stakes and Glaciers

By Shona // Wednesday 19 Sep // 15:04:58 // No Comments

Today I was able to do my science project! We were able to meet up with an American Glaicologist (Jack) and he took us up to see the stakes that he had put in last spring. The stakes are used to measure glacier mass balance (a measurment of how much has accumulated and melted on the glacier over a year). Since the summer has just ended we were looking at how much had melted since he was last on the glacier. The experience was incredible. The sun was shinning and the air was so fresh. Jack is a very kind man and he let us measure for ourselves the stakes and help him take the GPS readings. I learned a huge amout about glaciers and was over whelmed by the size of the glacier and the amount that had melted. It wasnt was dramatic as seeing the ice fall into the water (on the last glacier) but when I stood there and realised how much the glacier had moved over the past century and how fast it was receding made the think hard about what we have done to this planet and what we have to do. It was also very enpowering to know that the measurments that i was taking were going to be documented in real scientific journals and that it would be consulted by scientist all over the world and I did it with my own hands and eyes (at only 16!). T

Tonight is my live blog, so I hope all goes well and that i can speak to yall back home.

Love and miss you all (not too much though) ,

Shona x

Tags: Shona