Hard frost

It's always interesting to read the comics to compare the weather in Alaska to the rest of the U.S. This Sunday we learned that the leaves are changing colors... Funny, since there aren't many leaves left on the trees here! Yesterday morning we had our first hard frost, the kind that covers everything with a thin layer of white that sparkles as the sun is rising. Ahh, winter! Soon it'll be time to wax my skis and pull my down jacket and bunny boots out of the closet.

In the meantime, we are having a beautiful fall. It feels as though we've had to wait until fall to have summer. Unfortunately I've been too busy to fully enjoy it. We held a glaciology meeting in Fairbanks the week after I returned from Greenland; I was partially responsible for organizing it and making sure things went smoothly. I had no idea how stressful that can be, but everything went smoothly and the meeting was a success. I'm also taking two classes this semester, one of which I have no business taking (a graduate level course in Partial Differential Equations, in case you were wondering). And then of course there is always the persistent insecurity that goes along with being a graduate student - am I really capable of doing good research? I shouldn't make it sound soo bad, though, because there is always time for fun (hockey, drumming, and Carcassonne), and part of the reason that I'm so busy is because I need to make some progress with my research before I leave for New Zealand in two months.

Harvest season

Sunday was a day of harvesting. In the morning Inari picked vegetables from our garden (a plot in the community garden) while I took photos of flowers. It was a tough year for us amateur farmers, but we did manage to get large crops of potatoes, carrots, and peas.




In the afternoon we went to the local raspberry farm and came home with 7 pounds of raspberries for $21. That doesn't count the pound of raspberries that found their way into my stomach! Its really easy to get greedy and take more berries than you need, but then again, blueberry and raspberry pies are a much needed treat during the cold winter days.

Fall colors

I told Inari in an e-mail the other day that the plants in Greenland don't exhibit fall colors and that they just fade from green to brown. I was wrong, I just didn't realize it when it was cloudy and the light was bad. Though not as spectacular as places that have large oaks and maples, its still quite beautiful. I snapped these photos today in Kangerlussuaq; we have a two-day layover and will fly back to the states on Wednesday.

Rapids

There is water everywhere in Greenland. As my friend pointed out, there isn't really a coastline, its more like a gradual transition from land to water. Traveling from the inland ice toward the coast you see bedrock with lots of lakes, that gradually changes into ocean with lots of islands. This means that there are lots of streams, such as this one located 2 km east of Ilulissat.

The ocean at night

One night I decide to take a walk to take some photos of the sunset. While walking down the road a stranger started talking to me. I ended up following him and two of his friends to a bar to listen to some musicians from Uummannaq. The music was okay, the bar was smoky, and the conversation was spoken in broken English. Anyway, it was an interesting experience. I didn’t manage to take any photos of the sunset, but after leaving the bar I managed to snap a couple of nice photos of the ocean at night.

Dogs and Icebergs

A photo album of Ilulissat wouldn't be complete without photos of sled dogs and icebergs. Lots of them. Though these photos aren't great I feel obligated to post them anyway.




There are over 5000 dogs in Ilulissat; the majority of them are kept on short chains for most of the summer (sad). Only the females that are in heat and the puppies are not on chains. They're actually allowed to roam freely throughout the town. Of course the puppies are quite cute and I always had to play with them, so on many occasions I had a small troupe of dogs following me around town.

Base camp

We decided that it would be cheaper and logistically simpler to stay in Ilulissat instead of camping out by the ice stream. The result is that I now know my way around town - not that its very difficult. Here are a few pictures of the city.


Ilulissat viewed from a helicopter. The town center is to the right of the picture near the water front. Most of the green areas between the neighborhoods are large dog yards.


Looking north from our hotel (towards the harbor).


Soccer seems to be the most popular sport, at least in summer. This dirt soccer field is almost always being used.

Images of Greenland

On this latest trip to Greenland I've had lots of free time, much of which I've spent walking around taking photos. I thought I'd post some of my favorites - though they're not exactly a "best of the best" collection. Besides, I'm not really a good photographer - yet. I took 500 photos over the past two weeks. If I keep up that pace maybe in a couple of years I'll actually know what I'm doing.


This first picture I took in Kangerlussuaq the same day that I saw the cormorant (see the previous post). I found a nice rock outcrop that had large ripple marks on the surface; many of the small depressions were filled with water. I wonder if this is what the moon would like if it had an atmosphere?