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Slow and Low

October 27, 2014

A helicopter flies back from the edge of Sarqardliup Glacier in West Greenland, where glacialogist Sarah Das and physical oceanographer Fiamma Straneo are studying rates of submarine melting and surface discharge brought on by rapidly warming climate. Helicopters are invaluable for transporting science parties to remote regions, as well as for deploying instruments that are inaccessible by boat. In the last 40 years, ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet has increased four-fold, contributing to one-quarter of global sea level rise. (Photo by Fiamma Straneo, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)