Day 14

Today we began with a visit from some scientists from University of Colorado. They have been doing work regarding rivers and glacial discharge as indicators for ice sheet melt. During the presentation, we were shown the simplified model of: Meltwater Runoff = Rain + Snow + Melt – Refreezing in Ice Sheet. Runoff, rain, snow, and melt can all be measured directly by measuring river flow and weather monitoring. Similar to an algebra problem, if all the other variables can be measured directly, then the refreezing in the ice sheet can then be monitored indirectly. They also do work to determine runoff using remote sensing techniques. The glacial runoff river is filled with lots of sediment. They can look at satellite images to see how far the sediment plume extends into the fjord to help determine how much runoff there is. Once we finished learning in the classroom, we headed out to the river to try to survey the river ourselves. First, we measured the width of the river. Then we set out to measure the flow rate. First we did the more low-tech method. It was kind of a glorified game of Pooh Sticks. Half of us stood on the bridge and the other half stood about 80 meters downstream on the shore. From the bridge, we dropped pieces of wood, starting a timer as soon as it hit the water. We would then wait for the other group to raise their arms when the piece of wood went past them. Evan and I were both timing and got pretty good at it. We were within hundredths of a second of each other by the end. It was pretty hard for the other half of the group since the river was pretty wild when we were doing this. A few pieces of wood got totally stuck. We then measured the flow rate using a probe and found the data was similar to what we got with the other method.

            After being outside for a while, we were pretty cold since the weather was kind of nasty again. As they had predicted at the weather station the day before, it was rainy, cloudy, and cold. Luckily we got to have some more soup for lunch, which tasted really good. After, lunch we had the rest of the afternoon to finish up collecting our data and go to any last minute test spots we wanted to. Half the groups went back out into the field but my group only had a few spots close by so we had most of the afternoon to relax. After taking some time to watch the Tour de France and hang out for a while, we took the last couple data points near the school. Later that afternoon I was bored so I set out trying to make some distilled water that we could use for the probes. Using stuff I could find around the school I attempted to make a water distillery using a pot, stove, tin foil, and rocks. Sadly, this did not work so well and I was left with only a burned finger and no distilled water. I did learn, however, that it is surprisingly difficult to find ice in a country that is almost entirely covered by it. After dinner, we came back to the school and had a movie night. It was a nice way to relax after a bunch of very busy days.

The Watson River Photo Credit: Evan

Measuring the flow rate Photo Credit: Evan