University of Arkansas Geologist Matt Covington joined a team of explorers who, over a two-year span, descended hundreds of feet into several ice shafts, called moulins, on Greenland’s Ice Sheet. The scientists were able to map and measure how accelerating rates of summer melt water are carving massive ice drains into the sheet, possibly impacting its stablity. Greenland Ice Sheet expedition principle investigator and videographer, Jason Gulley, a University of Florida geologist, generously provided audio and photographs for this report.
Arkansas Geoscientist Explores Deep Meltwater Shafts on Greenland Ice Sheet
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Dr. Matt Covington, a geologist at the University of Arkansas, climbs a fixed rope to exit a moulin on the Greenland Ice Sheet while his teammate, below, derigs the cave.
Courtesy / Jason Gulley
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Increasing amounts of surface meltwater create rivers on the Greenland Ice Sheet which drains through large holes called moulins into the ocean below.
Courtesy / Jason Gulley
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Expedition members share a sandwich before ascending nearly 100 meters out of a giant cavity beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Courtesy / Jason Gulley
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Dr. Matt Covington camped with team mates in October of 2019 on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Courtesy / Jason Gulley
