Ros, Crew Blog Tues 20th September
I joined Northabout in Tromso and left in Point Barrow having spent 50 days on board, preparing the boat (I was responsible for domestic preparation) in Tromso and Murmansk for the Northeast Passage, and then sailing the Northeast Passage from 20th July to 29th August.
My single favourite times of the Northeast Passage, way above any other highs of that part of the trip, were in the cockpit with my boy (Benji), helming through the sea ice. In the grand scheme of things we didn’t see a great deal of sea ice (Nikolay really thought that we had a very easy time of it and was quite disdainful when comparing it with his Northeast and Northwest Passages of 1998/1999 when the temperatures were 10 degrees lower and they had to knock thick ice off the winches in order to work the sails – in comparison we never had any rime on the boat at all in the entire trip) but we had our moments in the Vilkitsky Strait and then near the coast in the early part of the Laptev Sea, and again in the Chukchi Sea.
When the sea seems covered in ice, with narrow leads through the ice to the clear water, it is enormously engaging to work out a passage through. Nikolay taught us to spot clear water on the horizon and then work through the maze of ice heading roughly in the right direction, or trying to keep a rough heading; how to spot sky ice (ice reflected in the interface between cold and warm air, allowing you to spot ice on and slightly beyond the horizon) and sky sea (a dark patch reflected in the sky showing where there is clear passage). We had one incredible day when we had a long-lasting and huge mirage, where the sea ice was reflected up into the sky to form towering ice cliffs. Helming the boat successfully in a chosen direction through heavy sea ice, or reaching clear water through the ice, is exhilarating. So honestly I hadn’t really been expecting to be wowed by ice again.
The coast of Greenland is fed with icebergs from calving glaciers. We spoke to a trawlerman who said that over the last 20 years he has seen the ice problem move from the winter to the summer – they don’t really get sea ice any more, the sea is too warm for it to form in any quantity, but they have a serious ice problem in the summer from the icebergs which are a result of an increased rate of glacier calving because summer temperatures are higher.
So sailing into Ilulisat, where there is a huge glacier feeding a river of icebergs, was incredible. We sailed up to Ilulisat at night to arrive in the early morning. Johan, who left the boat in Upernarvik, was in Ilulisat waiting for a flight connection and contacted us to recommend that we did not try to come into Ilulisat in the dark because of the density of icebergs. Coming up the channel we had 25 to 30 knot winds behind us giving us waves that were big enough to surf down but not too uncomfortable (Northabout does not like sailing into wind – her bow is shaped to cope with ice but not to ride the waves comfortably). It was very dark and we had a combination of big bergs, which could be seen on the radar, and lumps of ice that were big enough to cause trouble but could not be seen until they were very close to the boat.
With the high winds, making things on deck a bit chilly, and the need to be completely on top of spotting the ice, we decided to have three people on watch at any one time – one on the helm, one on the bow with a powerful torch pointing out ice and shouting directions, and one warming up but ready to come up if an extra spotter or help was needed. I helmed for just over three hours, and then a further two and a half hours alternating with Frances on the bow. Icebergs in the dark are more stressful, I think, than helming slowly through sea ice because there is the opportunity to do a lot more damage to the boat if you get it wrong. Consequently you find complete focus and concentration in the dark with the torch, and what comes with this is complete relaxation of the form that you only get when you are totally absorbed in something – like a tricky rock climb it leaves you refreshed and relaxed rather than tired and ground down. But I was ready to climb into a warm sleeping bag
when Steve came on watch and took over my slot.
The ice coming into Ilulisat in the early daylight was just as Johan had said, and Nikolay was not certain that we would find a way through. I had scrambled eggs and buttered bread ready for the on-watch crew just as we tied up – they looked ready for it!
During the day we walked up to the Icefjord – a spectacular jumble of ice fed by the large glacier. This had been recommended to me by a seasoned high latitude skipper who said that he has seen a lot of ice but this is quite something. Greenland is trying to develop it’s tourist industry and with sights like this it certainly has something to sell. Actually I like Greenland very much – lovely jolly, often funny, people and breathtaking scenery. I would like to come back and do some walking or ski trips here.
We left Ilulisat yesterday hoping that we would have clear skies – Frances had checked the aurora forecast and we were hopeful that we might have a reasonable view. I share the first two hours of my watch with Ben and the last two with Frances (I have picked up David’s watch – 0800 to 1200 and 2000 to 0000). Frances is a tiny, slim, bright-eyed enthusiastic and clever lady who is always cheerful, and I suspect her of having a touch of magic about her. She came onto watch at 2200 and around 2220 we started to spot signs of a building aurora – lightening sky with streaks up into space. By 2330 we got the rest of the crew up. Almost all of the sky was full of streaks and ribbons. We were encased by a cone of streak of light that met in a dancing, glowing point a long, long way above the mast. The light was mostly green but for a time we had green and red light swirling round at. the apex of the cone. Undulating ribbons of light were closer to the horizon. Ben said it was very nice but was tired (he has done a couple of extended watches while the new crew were feeling sea sick) and went back to bed. The rest of us (Frances, Steve, Colin, Alison and me) crammed into the cockpit, glued to the spectacle above us – even Nikolay, who has seen some spectacular aurora in his time, kept popping up to have a look, although he was very dubious about us waking people up when they could be enjoying a good kip).
At 2400 I came off watch, the aurora switched off, and I had a very small glass of wine with Steve and Nikolay (I’m sorry David – I just don’t have the stamina for the traditional midnight vodka party at the end of your watch) before crawling happily into my sleeping bag.
5 Comments. Leave new
Greenland now on my bucket list! My fellow geology student spent much of his working life there in the summers with the Danish Geological survey. Women were not recruited for jobs like that in 1962 sadly.
Calving glaciers is nothing new. It has been going on ever since there have been glaciers. It happens because of the flow of the glacier – which happens because of the pressure of the ice “upstream”. I don’t know where modern man gets the idea that it must be something new. It’s not.
Greenland appears to have been gaining a lot of ice compared to 2012 according to this danish site. Could more ice pressure increase calving? Last year there was a lot less melt also but they do not show it for some reason. Illulissat temps have been running below normal for a while now including both highs and lows which might help preserve the ice shown in the harbor. http://beta.dmi.dk/en/groenland/maalinger/greenland-ice-sheet-surface-mass-budget/
Thankyou for the interesting link. We found this in possible answer to your question. “…because surface meltwater percolates to the bedrock, increases lubrication, and thus reduces vertical friction (Nick et al., 2012)” Might explain the “If climate changes, the surface mass balance may change such that it no longer matches the calving and the ice sheet can start to gain or lose mass. This is important to keep track of, since such a mass loss will lead to global sea level rise. As mentioned, satellites measuring the ice sheet mass have observed a loss of around 200 Gt/year over the last decade”. From your link.
Calving outlet glaciers are not new. No one thinks that: Alfred Wegener describes the collapsing mountains of ice in his book from 1929. It is just that the amounts of calving ice and the dangers of the waves these icebergs make are much greater than they once were. That was the sense of the comment which mentioned the lack of sea ice in the Disko Bay. The name for Ilulisat used sometimes still is Jakobshaven, if I’m not mistaken.