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A Sea Change

November 5, 2012

WHOI engineer Will Ostrom deploys a mooring in Sermilik Fjord in southeastern Greenland in September, 2012. Instruments on the mooring will record water temperature, salinity, and current speed and direction every hour for a year. The research, headed by WHOI physical oceanographer Fiamma Straneo, seeks to investigate how the ocean affects glaciers in Greenland, in particular the massive Helheim Glacier that drains into Sermilik Fjord. The research is motivated by accelerated melting and retreat of Greenland’s glaciers in recent years, and the implications of ice loss for a sea level rise. (Photo courtesy of Fiamma Straneo, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)