Discovery Channel

Ways to Save the Planet Wrapping Greenland

Wrapping Greenland

A piece of protective blanket (DCL)

Wrapping Greenland: An Introduction to Glacier Preservation

Dr. Jason Box, a glaciologist from Ohio State University, is on a mission to prevent glaciers from melting by covering them with blankets that will reflect the powerful rays of the sun. This experiment takes existing technology used in the Alps, and scales it up, bringing it for the first time ever to the rapidly melting Arctic ice shelf in Greenland.

Main Experiment
Dr. Box and the Discovery Task Force will be airlifted to a remote glacier, 90 kilometers east of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. The bulk of their cargo is 31 giant rolls of uniquely designed white polypropylene blankets.  These blankets will cover a total surface area of 10,000 square meters, and are designed to reflect sunlight and block out Greenland’s immense winds.

Polypropylene blankets are used in the Alps to preserve rapidly disappearing ski hills over hot summers. For the Greenland project, the team hopes to conserve ice approximately 2 meters deep. In particular, the team will blanket over a moulin – a glacial "well" that carries meltwater from the surface to the base of the ice.  The team will work with five Arctic experts from the Byrd Polar Research Center, who will use state-of-the-art equipment and cameras to gather meteorological, melt-rate and energy-budget data.
 
For the first time ever, the team will also study the massive melt lakes of water appearing all over the Arctic.  With cameras primed around the edges, scientists will capture never-before-seen footage and invaluable data of a melt lake dramatically and unexpectedly draining in a matter of hours, sending tens of thousands of cubic meters of water beneath the glacier.
 
The team will lay the blankets down, attach them together, tether the edges to the ice, and set up all the scientific monitoring equipment during the first week of July. One of the scientists will remain at the camp for the whole summer to gather the data and maintain the blankets. The team will return Aug. 25th to collect the dramatic results.

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