Overlooked by snow-capped mountains and reddened land, the Kamak sailboat makes its way between the icebergs of Scoresby Fjord in Greenland, with scientists on board who have come to study an ecosystem in danger.
The Summit Camp research station recorded its hottest July at the top of the Greenland Ice Sheet, adding to the sense of urgency for scientists on this mission to learn about the effects of global warming on these fjords.
“The risk is the disappearance of a complete ecosystem”, says Eric Marechal, one of these scientists, research director at the CNRS and specialist in microalgae present in snow and ice, present on the sailboat.
Imprisoned eleven months out of twelve by the ice, the Scoresby Fjord, the largest group of fjords in the world, retains a large part of its mysteries.
In addition to the danger of hitting icebergs, which in some places represent up to half of the surface of the glacial valley, the scientific mission is also equipped to deal with the presence of polar bears.
The game is worth the candle, according to them.
“Global warming is entering an intense phase here. We need to document this”, underlines the leader of the expedition, Vincent Hilaire, leader of the Greenlandia association which is leading the mission conducted in August.
The mission focused in particular on collecting samples of snow and marine micro-organisms.
The heat of the early August sun cuts trails of melting snow on the edges of the icebergs and the roar of the glaciers that dot the fjord fills the atmosphere.
Some icebergs are chiselled blue monoliths taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, others mounds covered in layers of snow that roll down.
Even the geography of the place is uncertain and the danger of being crushed between two giant blocks of ice is palpable.
“We have the weather factor and at the same time we have maps (of the ice) which are not reliable, we have a big shift on the maps, so there we are groping with the sounding line, depth, and after it’s about discovery and adaptation”, says the captain of the sailboat, David Delample.
The only center of human life within a radius of 500 km is the village of Ittoqqortoormiit and its 300 inhabitants, weakened by the effects of global warming.
In mid-September, access to the fjord will close.
“The next generation of scientists will observe massive melting in Greenland,” says Vincent Hilaire.
“We need to leave them as many samples as possible.”
29/08/2023 13:36:04 – Ittoqqortoormit (Denmark) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
