The purpose of this fieldwork is to find out the best possible ice core drilling sites in New Zealand. We are preparing for the first of two drilling seasons, starting in June 2009. What we are doing is flying up to several high glaciers in the Aoraki/ Mount Cook National Park with a ground penetrating […]
Ice Core Drilling Radar Survey Read More »
This is our last glacier day of the trip. We visited the terminal face of the Fox Glacier, where we again made a short GPS survey, keeping about 10 metres in front of the ice. A large part of the ice front is high and unstable, making it a very hazardous to go near. Following
GNS Science School Glacier Expedition – Fox Glacier Read More »
We packed early, walked down to the road and drove up to Franz Josef for a look at the lower part of the glacier. Brian had two 4 metre ablation stakes which needed to be redrilled and inserted deeper in the ice. We also wanted to record the position of the terminus with the GPS.
School Glacier Expedition – Franz Josef Glacier Read More »
Yesterday was a bad weather day which we spent mainly in the hut. Brian Anderson joined us in the evening. He is a glaciologist at the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University Wellington and has been studying the Brewster Glacier for several years. This morning we hiked across to the glacier again. While Brian went
School Glacier Expedition- Brewster Glacier continued… Read More »
Today we left the hut at 9 am and hiked 200m higher and then horizontally leftwards (North) to the glacier. The weather was fine and by midday we were roped up to step off the rock onto the ice. Initially this is a bit hazardous as the ice is undercut and could potentially break off
School Glacier Expedition – Brewster Glacier ablation Read More »
This morning we got up early to have a close up look at the Tasman Glacier Lake. The icebergs had moved a lot since my visit a month ago, but I could still recognise some of the bigger ones. We scrambled down the moraine below the viewpoint and walked along the edge of the lake
School Glacier Expedition – Tasman Lake Read More »
This trip to the glaciers involves 3 students from Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School in Lower Hutt. We are going to help with some glacier monitoring at the Brewster Glacier near Haast Pass, with a brief visit to Mount Cook village on the way, and a short stop at Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers on
GNS Science School Glacier Expedition – Mueller Hut Read More »
Today we decided to take the opportunity to collect some ice samples from the Tasman Glacier Lake. This lake has been expanding rapidly over the last few years. I took the first photo in 2002. See how much it has changed between then and today! A few days ago there was a huge break-out of
Tasman Lake Icebergs Read More »
As well as having detailed discussions and poring over maps and images today, we took a ski plane flight to get a close up look at the possibilities. I have flown over the mountains of Aoraki/ Mount Cook National Park many times, but they never fail to impress. Have a look at my Mount Cook
Aoraki Mount Cook ice core site reconnaissance Read More »
I am in Aoraki Mount Cook village with a group of scientists and others to help select the best possible sites for our ice core drilling season that is planned for June. The people at the meeting all have valuable knowledge and experience to help in the selection – Amongst us there are glaciologists who
Aoraki Mount Cook ice core site reconnaissance Read More »