20 July, 2002

On the glacier.......

Today Kendra gave me a tour around the lower portion of the glacier. The contrast between the pure white of the clean glacial ice and the very dark, almost black ³dirty² ice was dramatic. The ice itself isnıt dirty, but is covered by a relatively thin layer of sediments ranging from very small silts to large boulders. There were many small meandering streams flowing across the surface of the glacier. Some of these flowed into holes in the ice known as moulons. We also visited a beautiful lake on the glacier called Hidden Lake.

The trip wasnıt all just sight seeing. We were also looking for previously drilled bore holes that may be used for my study of vertical velocity (see research description for details). There have been six holes drilled so far this summer, and three of them are being used for other research projects. Kendra and I located the other three, one of which showed promise for my study. It was a relatively deep hole, approximately 100m deep and located in a flat area that would allow the ground penetrating radar (gpr) to be easily used. But............. When we dropped a plumb bob down the hole to check to see if it was open, we discovered that it was plugged only about .5m down.

The drill rig from CRREL in Anchorage is still here at the glacier, so we will see if we can get the hole bored out again, or perhaps a new hole to use.

Stay tuned.......

Life Is Good

DT

Stream meandering across the ice

Hidden Lake. Notice the people in the background for scale.