As part of a project to understand how the ice, ocean, solid Earth and atmosphere interact at the periphery of ice sheets, Dave Purnell and Isabelle McIntyre from McGill are joining collaborators from NYU on a field expedition to Greenland to service and collect data from our instruments that are measuring sea level changes in Qequertarsuup tunua (Disko Bay) near Sermeq Kujalleq (Jakobshavn glacier). They had a rocky start, but are on their way now. Read on to hear more...
| Well, Dave and I have had a pretty tumultuous start to our journey. Our flight from Montreal to Toronto was delayed causing us to miss our connecting flights to Reykjavik and Ilulissat. WestJet kindly organized for us to stay the night and fly to Vancouver the next morning, where we would then take off to Reykjavik. This part went smoothly but, upon arriving to Iceland, we discovered that our bags had not made the trip. The travel agency we are using also informed us that there was a flight to Ilulissat on June 4 (good news). However, there was only one seat left (less good). Dave booked that one and I got a ticket for the 7th. After sorting this out we went to explore some of Reykjavik. Attached is a photo of a tired Dave in a coffee shop. We also went down to the waterfront and checked out the Hallgrímskirkja church (both very nice). And after a much-needed nap, we hit the town for dins. Dave was brave enough to order some fermented shark and dried fish. After pawning some of it off to me, we agreed that we were glad to have tried the shark, but that neither of us would be repeating this in the near future. |  |
The next day we were on a mission. Icelandair told us that they had found our bags in Vancouver and that they would be delivered to Ilulissat on the 5th. Dave would already be on the boat by this point, so we had to find some gear for him to bring aboard. Luckily, David and Denise Holland are very organized people and have some extra boots, coats, and gloves that we can borrow, so Dave and I got some more layers and essentials. Dave also submitted his PhD that day (!!!) so we went out for some fish and chips to celebrate.
This bring us to today. We got up early this morning for Dave's flight. I accompanied him to the airport in the hopes of squeezing on to the flight at the last second... and it worked!! Youpiee! As I am writing this we are flying over East Greenland. It's beautiful - below are some pictures. We will be headed directly to the research boat upon landing to start the second phase of our adventure. I'll let you know how it goes.
Izzy
This bring us to today. We got up early this morning for Dave's flight. I accompanied him to the airport in the hopes of squeezing on to the flight at the last second... and it worked!! Youpiee! As I am writing this we are flying over East Greenland. It's beautiful - below are some pictures. We will be headed directly to the research boat upon landing to start the second phase of our adventure. I'll let you know how it goes.
Izzy
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