28 June 2009
A polar bear in Greenland
© Greenpeace/Nick Cobbing
Why Greenland?
If all of the ice in Greenland were to melt, sea levels would rise by 7 meters right around the world. Entire low-lying countries could disappear, and the geography of many others would be changed forever.The Arctic Sunrise in in Greenland right now to support scientists working to understand why the speed of the melt is outstripping prediction, and to bear witness to the loss of this unique eco-system.
Inuit in Greenland have been calling for attention from world leaders for several years to tackle this problem. They are first hand witnesses of the disaster that is happening. We are there to add a voice.
Our activities in Greenland
For this expedition, Greenpeace is working with a team of scientists to conduct surveys of the rate of the melting, survey cracks in glaciers and find out how currents are changing the melt paterns.
Route of the Arctic Sunrise in the summer 2009 expedition.
First leg : Petermann glacier
The Arctic Sunrise arrived at the Petermann glacier on June 29th, much earlier than planned. The ship encountered almost no ice on the way North, one of the first indicators of the fast melt.
The Arctic Sunrise is there to monitor the coming break up of the Petermann glacier. Satellite photos have been showing a growing crack in the glacier since last year. When it does seperate from the rest of the glacier, an iceberg the size of Manhattan will break away. It has a mass of 5 billion tons.
In order to document this, our on board scientists installed several time lapse cameras to see the movements of the glacier, as well as GPS trackers to follow the iceberg once it breaks off.
They also surveyed the salinity and temperature of the water to find out whether ocean currents had changed. It was found that 60 meters below the surface, warm Atlantic ocean currents were causing the glacier to melt, in addition to the surface melt due to the sun.
Selected blog entries from the first leg:
Second leg: East Greenland
During the month of August, the Arctic Sunrise is visiting the East coast of Greenland to carry out further research into the glacial melt.
Selected blog entries from the second leg:
Third leg: The Sea ice of the Arctic Ocean
In September, the Arctic Sunrise travelled as far North as possible to reach the edge of the ice cap, on the East side of Greenland.