Greenland 2012 blog – Ice

The title really describes the essence of Greenland: Ice. We know it was a big mistake to call Greenland green. Even Iceland is greener than Greenland. If you like green you go to Ireland. But if you like white, this is your destination. 82% percent of the vast landmass of Greenland is permanently covered by a thick icesheet. Glaciologists don’t refer to this ice as a glacier, but rather call it an icesheet. Officially this refers to an ice covered area larger than 50,000 km2. There are only two icesheets on the planet: one in Antarctica and one here in Greenland. Continue reading

Greenland 2012 blog – Traveling to Greenland

THe flight from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq is carried out by the only wide-body aircraft in the Air Greenland fleet, the Airbus A330 OY-GRN. The flight takes about 5 hours.In the summer of 2012 a colleague and I were asked to organize a tour to Greenland for a children’s TV show. They wanted to see global warming in the Arctic in action and visit the top locations where climate change is most visible. We had organized a similar tour in 2010, so no problem. We had six days for the entire trip, in which five episodes of the show had to be filmed, each with a different theme: language, icebergs, life of the Inuit, the inland icesheet, and sea level rise. So we proposed an itinerary to the world capital of Icebergs: Ilulissat, followed by a real Arctic expedition to the inland icesheet at Kangerlussuaq. I will divide this blog in similar parts. Continue reading

Winterhike blog – Groenland 2008 (part 1)

IJsberen en Muskusossen

GRN08_003Een wintertocht aan het eind van de zomer? Dat moet dan wel in het poolgebied zijn. In een van de meest onherbergzame en afgelegen landen ter wereld gaan twee enthousiaste winterkampeerders het avontuur aan. En het is een bijzonder avontuur geworden. Een ijskap van 1000 bij 2500 kilometer, een met explosies gepaard gaande afbrokkelende gletscher, poolvossen in het kamp en muskusossen en rendieren in de verte. Gelukkig geen ijsberen… Continue reading