Glacio-speleology

When snow and ice melts on the surface of a glacier, it flows from the top of the glacier to the bed. This flowing water cuts through the ice and forms a channel, much like a river cuts through rock. In winter, there is no active melting, so there is no running water. Snow falls and closes the top of the channel. What's left is a narrow, tall ice cave. Over the course of the winter, some water is able to move through the channel and form intricate icicles and crystals. There are a few other ways that caves within glaciers can form, but it all comes back to flowing water.

My glaciology professor is the 'it' guy when it comes to studying ice caves. He wrote the book, and has been using the caves to study patterns of glacial melt and mass balance for two decades. I'm helping him with a project that will use radar to map the caves from the surface of the glacier. We did our first fieldwork on Friday. It was the third ice cave I've been in: I've already explored the cave systems in Larsbreen and Longyearbreen, the glaciers right behind my barrack. The Larsbreen cave is quite long and requires technical rope work (repel down in, and several 'waterfalls' to climb up and down once you're inside). Some friends and I spent much of last Thursday in the cave. We took an hour and half longer than we thought we would, and our worried friends back home called the governor and red cross. By the time we got back, the red cross had mobilized a crevasse rescue team, and tensions were running high. Thankfully the situation was resolved without much difficulty-- the governor decided that no party was at fault and everyone had acted how they should have. This is a dangerous place, and its nice to know that the systems that are in place to keep us all safe really DO work.

I'm hooked on caving though. I want to keep exploring. I want to learn about formations. I'm curious as to how the caves can be used to study glacier dynamics over time. They allow you to explore the inside of a glacier- an incredibly unique opportunity that is otherwise only possible with extensive drilling.

I'm still really bad at ice climbing (what happens when you give a naturally clumsy person shoes with massive spikes and two ice axes, then ask them to climb something slippery? Bad things. I have huge bruises to prove it). Turns out I'm also quite bad at snowmobile driving-- I flipped my scooter 3 times while doing fieldwork yesterday. Oops. Hey, driving in 4 feet of soft powder on steep slopes is really hard.

Morale of my rambling stories: I LOVE ICE CAVES!

Jeanette being lowered down

Inside the Cave, looking up

Edward Ice-Axe-Hands