We woke in Harefjord this morning, a place of gradually ascending slopes and wildflowers. It’s a piece of Greenland that, at least in August, is actually green.
A glacial snail
The expedition team scouted the area, and started our landing groups. We were supposed to be in the last group this morning, but hospitality needed access to our room to investigate a leak in the adjoining cabin, so they sent us ashore early. The hill doesn’t look very daunting, but we saw people scrambling on all fours when they neglected to climb in switchbacks.
The views were nice from the top - nothing spectacular, but nice to be outdoors on a beautiful day. It was so warm that I shed my jacket and just wore a long-sleeve T.
Musk ox hair.
Nils standing guard
Wildflowers delighted those who happened to glance into protected niches
The kayakers, out for several more hours than I’d be up for.
Footprints on the beach. Nils identified them for me:
Geese. Musk oxen. Arctic fox
Glacial cat
Glacial cat
We continued on to Øfjord, a narrow fjord bracketed by towering cliffs. It’s hard to gauge distances and heights without any reference structures, but our guides said the cliffs rise up to 2,000 m (6,500 ft - well over a mile) above the 2.5 - 3 mile wide fjord. The cliffs are formed by strongly deformed and metamorphic rock. We’re scheduled to have a couple of geology talks tomorrow; it will be interesting to learn more about these ancient rocks.
Groups went out on zodiacs to circle icebergs, see retreating glaciers and the icecaps atop the cliffs.
The type of iceberg has been rotating in the water, creating its strange textures, curves and ridges.
Our zodiac driver told us they predict summer sea ice will be gone from this area in seven years. Sea ice forms from frozen salt water at 28.8 degrees F. Rising ocean temperatures are spelling its doom - and that of life forms from algae to polar bears that rely on it to survive. Tidal glaciers (those that reach the ocean) will continue to calve icebergs into the sea, but the flat pan ice that has provided the maze through which we weave will be gone. It makes me wonder what this amazing place must have looked like seven years ago.
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