Accomodation; Kangerlussuaq Interntional Science Support (KISS) Map link

Greenland is the world's largest island and over three-quarters of its surface is covered by the only permanent ice sheet outside of Antarctica. It is therefore one of the few truly extreme cryogenic environments on Earth and yet is relatively accessible.

The proposed site is Kangerlussuaq here there is excellent access to the glacial ice sheet, regions with permafrost, regions with glacial sediment deposits and also glacial run-off which meets the ocean. Specifically there is access to both the Russel Glacier and the Isunnguata glacier which are part of the vast uninterrupted permanent polar ice sheet. On the ice sheet will be features such as melt-water lakes, shearplanes, fissures/cracks and ice compaction effects.

Kangerlussuaq is on the west coast of Greenland and is one of the most accessible regions of the island, having an international airport. This site has been well characterized geologically through several decades of field site study by International science teams as well as Aarhus University scientists.

Contact Keld Rasmussen and Jon Merrison

(photographs: Niels Tvis Knudsen)

More reading

van De Wal, R.S.W., Greuell, W., van den Broeke, M.R., Reijmer, C. H. and Oerlemans, J., 2005. Surface mass-balance observations and automatic weather station data along a transect near Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland. Annals of Glaciology, 42: 311-316.

Mernild, S. H., Liston, G. E., van As, D., Hasholt, B., and Yde, J. C. 2018. High-resolution ice sheet surface mass-balance and spatiotemporal runoff simulations: Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (Special Issue), doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2017.1415856.

Bullard, B.E. and Mockford, T., 2018. Seasonal and decadal variability of dust observations in the Kangerlussuaq area, west Greenland, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 50:1, S100011.