!!!Icebergs of Greenland

by Stas Sedov and Sergey Shandin,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

24 October 2014

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

We spent almost 24 hours on the road: Moscow — Berlin — Reykjavik...
And, now we are flying northwest over the sea on a small propeller
airplane. We hear our captain's voice: "Look, there is land down there.
We are approaching the east coast of Greenland". Snowy mountaintops and
glaciers with broken off icebergs are appearing in our window. We are in
the Arctic. After another hour of flying over the ice sheet we land at
the Ilulissat airport. We have arrived. Due to the weather conditions,
our plane was seriously delayed. It is evening. While we are heading to
the hotel, the ocean fog covers the town.

[{Image src='01_Among icebergs.jpg' caption='Among icebergs' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='525'}]

My first impression of Greenland is that it is very quiet and still. It
was very unusual; even the wind doesn't blow. The fog amplifies the
feeling of stillness even more. The loudest sound is the sound of my
footsteps and the clicks of my camera shutter. From time to time I hear
low voices: there are people passing by a hundred meters away. And from
time to time I see a car driving by, and then again, silence, with the
occasional cries of birds and quiet murmur of the waves. This is the way
Greenland welcomes us...

Ilulissat means "icebergs" in the Inuit language. It is true; there are
a lot of icebergs around here. The town is situated on a rock plateau
with a huge glacier located just a couple of kilometers away. Breaking
off the glacier, huge pieces of ice float away to the sea. There are two
main attractions that bring tourists from around the world to this town:
icebergs and whales.

[{Image src='02_Above the Ilulissat town.jpg' caption='Above the Ilulissat town' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='575'}]

And so we too go searching for whales. We are in the boat and our
captain confidently maneuvers between the icebergs. After some time we
see a fountain in the horizon. Hooray, it is a whale! And there is not
one, but two of them. Slowing down, we approach them on low gear and
start the engine of our hexacopter. Stas, our pilot, operates it, trying
to photograph the whales from the air. I navigate him by looking through
my telephoto lens as if it were a binocular. It is a challenge to chase
whales in the sea, but we are very determined. The whales seem to
understand that and start posing for our cameras: they wave their fins
and tails at us. Wait! Has it already been 4 hours? Yes, time passes by
unnoticed by us. It's getting dark and it is time to go back.

Although polar days are long, the best time for photography is at
sunrise and sunset. In August the sun comes up at 4 AM. It was not easy
to find someone able to take us out to the sea before dawn. "So early?
You must be crazy!" was a typical response. However, after a while, we
finally found a captain who was willing to take us aboard at this hour.

[{Image src='03_Davis Strait.jpg' caption='Davis Strait' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='505'}]

His red wooden boat has been at sea for over half a century. Without
rush, we are going towards icebergs in the dusk. It smells of coffee and
fuel in the captain's warm cabin, but once you step outside, the cold
wind tries to get under your collar. Ice floes float by. Soon the low,
red sun rises above the horizon. We do our first flight, sending the
copter directly towards the icebergs, which are impossible to reach by
boat due to safety reasons. Icebergs shine with a blazing blue color,
and above them the low northern sky burns with scarlet hues... There
were no signs of trouble.

However, our following flight attempt ended with the sinking of the
copter... Bidding us goodbye with a "dead loop," the machine fell into
the ocean. The depth is 200 meters here. We didn't say a word on our way
back to the port. To break the silence, the captain told us a story.

[{Image src='04_On the shore of Ilulissat.jpg' caption='On the shore of Ilulissat' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='461'}]

A helicopter with a German film crew crashed at this very spot a few
years ago. The cameraman accidentally blocked the collective lever with
his foot, and the helicopter could not get out of the dive. It fell into
the water and broke into pieces. They rescued the pilot, but the
helicopter sank, and cameraman's body was not recovered. Our captain was
a witness to the accident. "Perhaps," the captain said, "he needed your
cameras."

Although the loss of our copter at the very beginning of our trip was
upsetting, we had to continue our work. Our next task was to fly to the
glacier on a helicopter. As this was a protected area, the only way to
shoot it was from the air.

We are on our way to meet the pilot. After discussing the flight plan,
we schedule our take-off in the evening so that we can catch the sunset.
Here we are: the land goes down, and we begin our flight to the glacier.
The first impression is a bit disappointing: a white snowy-icy mass
stretches for many kilometers below us. But we keep on flying. I see the
glacier sliding down to the water; heavy multi-ton pieces of ice break
off of the glacier and become icebergs. The ice sheet is armed with ice
spears sparkling in the sun. The ice shines with all kinds of colors:
everything from emerald green to black. I open the door and photograph
this beautiful scene. We fly along the glacier wall with the amazing ice
rocks a few times.

[{Image src='05_Among ice.jpg' caption='Among ice' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='410'}]

One more boat trip is scheduled for the following day. Unfortunately,
the boat we used earlier broke down, but Stas manages to find another
one in the port. It is a real fishing boat that smells of fish scales
and engine oil. It speeds up, taking us away and forward. Just recently
a lot of ice broke off the glacier, filling up the bay with icebergs of
all shapes and sizes. Our captain is very excited; he bravely sends the
boat into the midst of the icebergs. The ice creaks and sighs; we keep
on speeding forward... It is a real challenge to shoot panoramas in the
sea: multiple currents toss and turn the light boat in every direction.
I try to hurry up and shoot faster because the sun is almost down: it's
midnight.

[{Image src='06_Ilulissat, or Jakobshavn town.jpg' caption='Ilulissat, or Jakobshavn town' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='545'}]

Having studied the Ilulissat glacier from both the air and water, the
next day we decide to hike there through the tundra area that is
protected by UNESCO. We have to walk on special wooden platforms. On our
way we pass "a dog village" where there are a several dozen doghouses
with sled dogs on the outskirts of the town. Sled dogs don't work during
the summer, so they spend their time resting in the sun. Most of the
time they sleep, but occasionally they gather for a "dog choir" and howl
in unison. For example, a church bell inspires their vocal talents, and
the voices of hundreds of dogs soar in the sky above the tundra. A few
kilometers down the road, endless ice fields appear before our eyes.
This is where the border of the glacier lies. From time to time we hear
echoing thunder: an iceberg has broken off somewhere. We descend the
granite rocks down to the huge white icebergs. I cannot resist and break
off a little piece of the ancient ice to taste.

The amazing Arctic nature, slow-pace life of the local people near the
edge of the ocean, midnight sun, and smell of tundra will linger in my
memory for a long time. We will try to show you a fraction of these
memories though our photographs.

[{Image src='07_Harbor of Ilulissat.jpg' caption='Harbor of Ilulissat' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='678'}]

Here are a few facts about Greenland.

Greenland is the world's largest non-continental island with a territory
of 2,130,800 square kilometers. The shores are carved by deep long
fjords, reaching the edge of the ice sheet. The glaciation of
Greenland's territory began during the anthropogenic period (a
geological period that started 2,588 million years ago). Today the ice
sheet covers 1,834,000 square kilometers of the island, creating the
unique Greenland scenery.

The cold East-Greenland current washes over the east coast of Greenland.
Floating icebergs block the entire east coast almost all year round. The
water in the north coast is constantly covered with ice, and the only
relatively warm area is the southwest coast, thanks to the warm
West-Greenland current.

[{Image src='08_Mouth of ice fjord.jpg' caption='Mouth of ice fjord' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='482'}]

The town of Ilulissat is located in the western part of the island. As
Greenland is an administrative unit within the Kingdom of Denmark, the
town has a Dutch name as well — Jakobshavn.

Tourists come here to see the Ilulissat Icefjord filled with icebergs.
It is 40 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide; the thickness of the ice
in its lower part is 150 meters. Since 2004 Ilulissat Icefjord has been
a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Besides picturesque icebergs, Ilulissat is
also known as the birthplace of the famous polar explorer and
anthropologist Knud Rasmussen. There is also a unique "Museum of Cold".
In other words, there is plenty to see in Ilulissat, so we invite you to
get acquainted with this amazing little corner of Greenland!

\\ \\
[21 Panoramas of Icebergs of Greenland|Geography/Europe/Denmark/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Icebergs_of_Greenland]




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