Ice - Kathy Sykes' diary
Taking the challenge
See how the scientist tackled their Rough Science challenges by reading their diaries:
Day 22 - Speed and Melt of Glacier
Jonathan, Mike and I have to go spend a night on the Franz Josef Glacier - it’s fantastic! We have to try to measure the speed that it’s moving at. Hard challenge, I think - much harder than it seems. But delighted to be going up the glacier and sleeping in a hut.
Why’s the challenge hard? Well, to measure the speed - we should be measuring how fast the glacier moves over a really long period of time. It can’t move very far in just a day - it would be so much better to take averages over a period of, say, a few weeks, or months even.
So we needed to build some things to:
- measure angles really accurately,
- measure out a distance for a baseline,
- place paper to draw onto (for an accurate scale drawing).
Jonathan made a beautiful protractor - huge and in a tiny 1/10 of a degree scale. Mike built a tripod table. I collected stuff and made a long distance measuring thing (a pipe - plastic and light-weight). I made the stakes - of differing height with shiny red flags on top.
The “sticky-out-ness” of the flags makes me laugh but there’s a real purpose too. We need to be able to see them at large distances, so if there’s no wind and they are limp, we’ll perhaps struggle to see them. At the end of the day Jonathan, Mike and I had a practice go at measuring a ‘glacier movement’. Meant putting our bits and pieces of kit together and, deliciously, it all worked.
Day 23 - Speed and Melt of Glacier
A FANTASTIC day. Blue skies and glacier. Spent 1½ hours at the sawmill - gathering tools, Mike measuring out a 50 m length of string, making sure we had everything we needed.
Fantastic helicopter ride up to the glacier. The pilot let me take the joystick for a while. Scary stuff - a tiny, tiny movement sends the whole pod lurching through the air. Quite amazing. Landed on the glacier. Very exciting. Got a brief lesson in glacier-walking, then set off - carrying ridiculous amounts of gear. Really quite funny - us all stomping about on ice - carrying GIANT protractors, poles with red flags and huge chunks of wood. Just mad.
Had to hack up and down huge ice cliffs. Chris Morris - the guide - would hack out steps in the ice, which we then had to step on very carefully - or risk sliding down a crevasse.
It’s just astonishing on the glacier - the scale of it is hard to comprehend just from the helicopter, or from viewpoints on the ‘land’. The change in ‘scenery’ is incredible too - some smooth, flat bits, some steep blue corridors to walk through. Had to walk and climb for ages to get to a place that looked appropriate. Didn’t get to the edge of the glacier for HOURS. Really wanted to be close to see to the middle from the edge to get the maximum movement. But no way. The middle is miles away. And hidden by layer upon layer of drifts of ice. Finally decided on a place to do it - and I won the toss of a coin to go place the flag in this. Jonathan and I were both desperate to go … it meant more climbing and more views - and we were both very excited to be on the ice. Mike L gets vertigo. Kate too a bit - they both did so well … inching along narrow ridges in steep slopes either side.
I had a great time climbing to the top of a pinnacle in this. Amazing rows of high craggy pinnacles off towards the sea.
I left M and J down at the baseline to take the measurements. Chris and I placed the flag - then ran back to the place we’d started at this morning. Since it was just the two of us - we could go really fast - and explore more ice. It was just the best! Picked up the others from the baseline - but they’d only had the chance to make one measurement to the flag. The plan had been to measure some of the amazing pinnacles too - as extra ways of checking the movement. But they didn’t have time.
Day 24 - Speed and Melt of Glacier
Overnight in the mountain hut was wonderful. Really special. No heating. Grubby cutlery. Damp-ish beds, some covered in plastic that creaked like a giant crisp packet. But - hut full of happy people, cups of tea and fantastic food. We munched our way through fab salami, watercress pesto, beef casserole and chocolate.
All sleepy by 9 … but … to get to the ‘dunny” (toilet) you need to walk 20 m across snow. We’re not allowed to use it without Chris accompanying us … it’s too risky. There are gentle slopes everywhere that dip into steep death-bringing slopes. So - a toilet trip in the night involves putting on spiked boots, taking ice axe, waking up Chris, putting on clothes, walking 20 m, sitting on smelly box … then returning (not necessarily in that order!). Quite an incentive NOT to go to loo in night! Mike L - the man with vertigo - went off to loo without Chris. His torch was too weak to pick out the loo - and he walked wrong way. He stopped walking when he noticed a slope downhill (which probably means he was close to a v. Dangerous point - if he could feel it). Just proved how dangerous a place it is!
Fantastic morning - making ice lenses and soaking up views and scrambled eggs. At 12ish a helicopter came to take us to resume our flag positions. Still exciting to be by the glacier, even on Day 2. You occasionally hear it creaking and hear and even see rocks falling down from one patch of terrain to another. Or hear a distant (one hopes!) avalanche. You just feel the glacier's power. It looks so still, but you can sense that it’s grinding its way down the mountain. We took our measurements - and found the flag had moved around a metre (1.3 according to the trigometry). It’s insane to try to measure movement in one day - we need to do this for months or years even. And using one reading is insane too. It’s so unscientific. But we had no more time to make any more readings.
Chris let me come along to take the flag out even though my boots were just walking boots. So much fun on the ice! The others were there by the time we got back … Kate had an envelope with the ‘results’ in …
Movement is 0.5 to 1 m a day. Rats! Given the fact we were working at it only for one day, and that the movement is an average (it speeds up and slows down), we were delighted with how close we were. And Mike B’s ‘handwarmers’ were GREAT … they got so hot, they melted the plastic wrapping (or exploded it) and singed our fingers. RESULT!!!
What a fantastic 3 days!
Jonathan, Mike and I have to go spend a night on the Franz Josef Glacier - it’s fantastic! We have to try to measure the speed that it’s moving at. Hard challenge, I think - much harder than it seems. But delighted to be going up the glacier and sleeping in a hut.
Why’s the challenge hard? Well, to measure the speed - we should be measuring how fast the glacier moves over a really long period of time. It can’t move very far in just a day - it would be so much better to take averages over a period of, say, a few weeks, or months even.
So we needed to build some things to:
- measure angles really accurately,
- measure out a distance for a baseline,
- place paper to draw onto (for an accurate scale drawing).
Jonathan made a beautiful protractor - huge and in a tiny 1/10 of a degree scale. Mike built a tripod table. I collected stuff and made a long distance measuring thing (a pipe - plastic and light-weight). I made the stakes - of differing height with shiny red flags on top.
The “sticky-out-ness” of the flags makes me laugh but there’s a real purpose too. We need to be able to see them at large distances, so if there’s no wind and they are limp, we’ll perhaps struggle to see them. At the end of the day Jonathan, Mike and I had a practice go at measuring a ‘glacier movement’. Meant putting our bits and pieces of kit together and, deliciously, it all worked.
Day 23 - Speed and Melt of Glacier
A FANTASTIC day. Blue skies and glacier. Spent 1½ hours at the sawmill - gathering tools, Mike measuring out a 50 m length of string, making sure we had everything we needed.
Fantastic helicopter ride up to the glacier. The pilot let me take the joystick for a while. Scary stuff - a tiny, tiny movement sends the whole pod lurching through the air. Quite amazing. Landed on the glacier. Very exciting. Got a brief lesson in glacier-walking, then set off - carrying ridiculous amounts of gear. Really quite funny - us all stomping about on ice - carrying GIANT protractors, poles with red flags and huge chunks of wood. Just mad.
Had to hack up and down huge ice cliffs. Chris Morris - the guide - would hack out steps in the ice, which we then had to step on very carefully - or risk sliding down a crevasse.
It’s just astonishing on the glacier - the scale of it is hard to comprehend just from the helicopter, or from viewpoints on the ‘land’. The change in ‘scenery’ is incredible too - some smooth, flat bits, some steep blue corridors to walk through. Had to walk and climb for ages to get to a place that looked appropriate. Didn’t get to the edge of the glacier for HOURS. Really wanted to be close to see to the middle from the edge to get the maximum movement. But no way. The middle is miles away. And hidden by layer upon layer of drifts of ice. Finally decided on a place to do it - and I won the toss of a coin to go place the flag in this. Jonathan and I were both desperate to go … it meant more climbing and more views - and we were both very excited to be on the ice. Mike L gets vertigo. Kate too a bit - they both did so well … inching along narrow ridges in steep slopes either side.
I had a great time climbing to the top of a pinnacle in this. Amazing rows of high craggy pinnacles off towards the sea.
I left M and J down at the baseline to take the measurements. Chris and I placed the flag - then ran back to the place we’d started at this morning. Since it was just the two of us - we could go really fast - and explore more ice. It was just the best! Picked up the others from the baseline - but they’d only had the chance to make one measurement to the flag. The plan had been to measure some of the amazing pinnacles too - as extra ways of checking the movement. But they didn’t have time.
Day 24 - Speed and Melt of Glacier
Overnight in the mountain hut was wonderful. Really special. No heating. Grubby cutlery. Damp-ish beds, some covered in plastic that creaked like a giant crisp packet. But - hut full of happy people, cups of tea and fantastic food. We munched our way through fab salami, watercress pesto, beef casserole and chocolate.
All sleepy by 9 … but … to get to the ‘dunny” (toilet) you need to walk 20 m across snow. We’re not allowed to use it without Chris accompanying us … it’s too risky. There are gentle slopes everywhere that dip into steep death-bringing slopes. So - a toilet trip in the night involves putting on spiked boots, taking ice axe, waking up Chris, putting on clothes, walking 20 m, sitting on smelly box … then returning (not necessarily in that order!). Quite an incentive NOT to go to loo in night! Mike L - the man with vertigo - went off to loo without Chris. His torch was too weak to pick out the loo - and he walked wrong way. He stopped walking when he noticed a slope downhill (which probably means he was close to a v. Dangerous point - if he could feel it). Just proved how dangerous a place it is!
Fantastic morning - making ice lenses and soaking up views and scrambled eggs. At 12ish a helicopter came to take us to resume our flag positions. Still exciting to be by the glacier, even on Day 2. You occasionally hear it creaking and hear and even see rocks falling down from one patch of terrain to another. Or hear a distant (one hopes!) avalanche. You just feel the glacier's power. It looks so still, but you can sense that it’s grinding its way down the mountain. We took our measurements - and found the flag had moved around a metre (1.3 according to the trigometry). It’s insane to try to measure movement in one day - we need to do this for months or years even. And using one reading is insane too. It’s so unscientific. But we had no more time to make any more readings.
Chris let me come along to take the flag out even though my boots were just walking boots. So much fun on the ice! The others were there by the time we got back … Kate had an envelope with the ‘results’ in …
Movement is 0.5 to 1 m a day. Rats! Given the fact we were working at it only for one day, and that the movement is an average (it speeds up and slows down), we were delighted with how close we were. And Mike B’s ‘handwarmers’ were GREAT … they got so hot, they melted the plastic wrapping (or exploded it) and singed our fingers. RESULT!!!
What a fantastic 3 days!
