GREENLAND, ILULISSAT: FLYING OVER THE GREENLAND ICE SHEET

June 15, 2019

After dinner, so around 9:00 PM, John, Susan, Bob, and I were picked up by two guys from AirZafari for a "flightseeing" tour of the Ilulissat glacier and the Greenland ice sheet. (I'm telling you, no one sleeps in Greenland during the summer!)

I just learned the difference between an ice cap and an ice sheet from greenfacts.org:
"An ice cap is a dome-shaped mass of glacier ice that spreads out in all directions; usually larger than an ice field but less than 50,000 km². An ice sheet is a dome-shaped mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km², such as the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets."

The Greenland ice sheet is 1,710,000 km² (or 660,200 m² - three times the size of Texas) and is the second largest ice body in the world, right behind the Antarctic ice sheet.

Nice to know.

We boarded a six-seater plane, the two pilots in front, Bob and John in the middle . . .

and Susan and I in back:

About 80% of Greenland is covered by ice and snow, and the remaining 20% seems to be mostly rocks:

It's beautiful, but it doesn't look particularly habitable:

. . . unless you are a bird:

This is definitely not the tropical lagoon the turquoise water hints it might be:

We flew over the Ilulissat fjord, the place where large chunks of ice that have broken off the Mother Berg set off on their ponderous journey:

They look little, but remember we were flying high above them. They are huge.

The icebergs creep out to sea or along the coastline at speeds that average about .4 mph, depending on factors such as size, shape, current, waves, and wind.:   

An aerial view of the edge of a glacier on the side of the fjord:

When a glacier "calves," or looses its edge, it is more like a mudslide than like breaking off a piece of toffee:

The blue color of a glacier comes from the refractive light properties caused by the extreme density of the ice. The density is caused by the compaction process of layer upon layer of ice. The ice itself is actually crystal clear, as we saw when our cruise guide scooped up smaller pieces from the ocean and placed them on the boat deck.

The brown part of a glacier, contrary to what you might think, is not usually caused by pollution. The technical name for it is "moraine." Moraines result from rock and dirt being scraped up from the earth by a moving glacier. As the glacier nears the sea, these particles, some large rocks and others tiny specks, are pushed to the top of the glacier. Moraines are typically seen at the foot of a glacier, but they can also be seen along the edges or where two glaciers meet.

It's hard to comprehend the natural processes that create these sharp ridges and deep ravines. Geologists and geophysicists must go crazy when they see stuff like this.

Up until now, we had mostly been circling around the glacial fjord that empties into the ocean. That's where all the ice mountains and crevasses tend to be.

In some places further inland, the sharp edges soften and the terrain flattens out somewhat.

I think this looks like the bottom of an icy ski run, just where it straightens out before the lift and where grooves caused by thousands of skiers crisscross the snow:

These glacial lakes look like a puddle of blue Gatorade on the ice:

The ice stretches out for miles and miles and miles. The Greenland ice sheet is 680 miles wide and 1,500 miles long and varies in thickness from about 6,600 to 9,800 feet.

We turned around and headed back to the fjord:

Near the top of the fjord, the ice starts to look fluid, the surface marked by what seem to be twisting rivers and beautiful pools, the surface reflecting the light of the late-night sun hanging low on the horizon:

And then, all of the sudden, chunks of ice separate, the fissures widen, and larger sections of the ocean appear:

The two sides of the mouth of the fjord, where the icebergs exit and enter the ocean, pinch together somewhat and cause the equivalent of a freeway traffic jam, which explains why the fjord is so full of ice and icebergs:

This is a picture taken from the mouth of the fjord looking up towards the ice sheet:

Our guide told us that there are tourists who only want to find and photograph these sapphire pools of water on icebergs. Like the gatorade-colored pools on the ice sheet, these look like a vial of food coloring has been spilled on whipped egg whites or on a chunk of divinity. They have the very unimaginative name of "blue lakes."

Back out over the ocean, we had a wonderful view of the ghostly blue outlines of the submerged feet of icebergs. According to "The Physics of Everyday Stuff," over 90% of an iceberg is underwater:

There really is no way to describe the breathtaking beauty of these glaciers. Amelia Earhart said, "You haven't see a tree until you've seen its shadow from the sky." Well, you haven't really seen a glacier until you have seen it like this from the sky:

These huge icebergs, still close to the glacier that gave birth to them, look like jigsaw puzzle pieces, reminding me of diagrams I have seen of Pangaea, the massive continent that broke apart and created the continents we have today:

According to Socrates, "Man must rise above the Earth--to the top of the atmosphere and beyond--for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives."

This flight was that kind of an experience. I can't say that I now "understand the world," but having seen this area from the sky, I at least have a better grasp of its majesty.