Today we completed our sampling of river sediment – meaning that we have a transect of samples all the way from the ice cap to the ocean, covering a distance of around 15 km. This will allow us to look at changes in the sediment characteristics as we move downstream away from the ice. When we get back to our universities we will measure things like carbon and minerals within the sandy, silty samples.
All of our samples are wrapped in foil and plastic sample bags, and we now need to get them ready to transport back to the UK. The trowel can finally have a day off.
This afternoon the weather started to close in, and the icebergs in the bay started to move and break up. While we were out sampling near the coast we heard one of them crack (it sounds a bit like a gunshot) and break up, and we saw another one start to roll over. The strong winds made for some large waves battering the bergs. We were glad to have finished our day’s fieldwork before the wind and rain set in. By teatime the weather turned very bad with thick clouds, strong wind, and heavy rain. We were all glad to be inside for the evening. With the supermarket closed for the day, that cinnamon swirl will have to wait until tomorrow….
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