As a continuation of the snow, ice and water samples gathered in Svalbard last month, this week I went to the northernmost glacier in Iceland - Drangajokull - to collect some complimentary data.
Drangajokull is remote even by Icelandic standards and very seldom visited. We found that the known access route, such as it is, was blocked by snow. Luckily I had the best team with me who were able to find a route up onto the summit of the glacier. It was a long day with weather closing in - but time enough for me to collect a full set of snow and ice samples at two different locations. One happy scientist!
The next day, bad weather prevented us returning to the summit of the glacier but we were able to get into Kaldalon instead, a deep valley that continues into and almost under the glacier above. It was an intimidating place but a real adventure to be able to sample the melt water running through the valley directly from the glacier.