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Here's Brighid talking about our exhibit......"Glaciers on Iceland....

Recipe for making 1 ice core!!

We’ve just tested out our glacier melt-measuring experiment at our open day here at BGS Keyworth this weekend. Using a mini glacier – ok, a very large ice cube, we got visitors to measure the ‘ablation’ (melting) rate by plotting the height of the ice throughout the day. As you can see from the graph we measured 5cm of surface melting between 10am and 4pm with an air temperature of 15°c.

At the glacier in Virkisjökull, melting of more than 1cm between 10am and 4pm would be a lot for most of the year but we have seen it melt up to 3cm per day at the lowest parts.

Iceland fieldwork; getting to know you… Emrys Philips

Getting to know you… Your name: Emrys Phillips Your job title: Earth Scientist What that means in 5 words or less!: Looking at dirt and ice What did you do today? (22 April): I measured cracks in ice - that is, looked at structures in the ice of Virkisjokull which are associated with glacier flow.

Trivia What creature comforts from home do you travel with? Gin What’s for dinner and who’s cooking? Fish, hollandaise sauce (out of a packet), mashed potatoes and peas, cooked by Dr Jez Everest, project manager and DJ What do you wish was for dinner and who would be cooking it? Salmon and marshmallows, cooked by Leanne, project geological mapper What did you want to be when you grew up? An artist Who’s the best movie villain? Roy Batty - terrible name, great villain. Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner What are your favorite geological words? Slippery bottom. I'm giving a keynote talk on them in September in Manchester! Quick fire finale Hammer or hand lens? trowel

Laptop or pencil? Pencil!

Igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic? Sediment (not ary!) Jurassic Park or Armageddon? neither!

David or Richard: Attenborough? David Hutton or Smith? Hutton Cox or Stewart? nah.

Emrys in Iceland

Iceland fieldwork; getting to know you... Andrew Finlayson

Next up on the hot seat (or cold seat - we are on a glacier after all) is Andrew Finlayson, who's been towing a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system around Virkisjokull for the last week, trying to map out the base of the glacier and large scale structures within it.

Your name: Andrew Finlayson

Your job title: Quaternary geologist

What that means in 5 words or less: Geography, and breaking geophysical kit.

What did you do today (Friday 26 April) : Explored new heights on Virkisjokull, and felt smug when Verity's steam drilling proved there is pressurised water in englacial thrusts.

Trivia

What creature comforts from home do you travel with? 'Best Served Cold', lent me by Emrys

What's for dinner? Ask Jez - he's cooking again!

What did you want to be when you grew up? Don't know, but something in the outdoors (still applies!)

What's your favourite band? Incubus

Favourite movie hero? The Dude (Jeff Lebowski) Pet hate? Fibre optic cable

Favourite geological words? Made ground

Quick fire finale

Hammer or hand lens? An ice axe is more useful on the glacier!

The Day after Tomorrow or Waterworld? Waterworld...

David or Richard (Attenborough): David Hutton or Smith? Who? Cox or Stewart? Cox Andrew on Virkisjokull

Iceland fieldwork; getting to know you...Leanne Hughes

We’re getting towards the end of this Iceland field campaign: only tomorrow left now to finish everything we want to do, but it looks like our work might be cut short. The forecast for tomorrow is for really high winds – so much so that Oli, our landlord, has warned us to batten down the hatches and plan to stay in the house. That’s Iceland weather for you! So we’ve brought inside everything that might blow away and are watching and waiting... In the meantime, here’s another 20 (ish) questions, this time answered by Leanne Hughes, who’s been finding out more about the amazing volcanic geological history of the rocks around and underneath the glacier we’re studying.

Your name: Leanne Hughes

Your job title: Survey geologist What that means in 5 words or less: Mapping rocks and glacial deposits. What did you do today (27 April): Found a nye channel, which is where glacial meltwater has cut right into the bedrock, and discovered a continuation of basalt behind the Virkisjokull icefall. And roped up to cross some scary crevasses!

Trivia

What creature comforts from home do you travel with? Jelly babies, and cake mix!

What did you want to be when you grew up? A teacher Who’s the best movie villain? The penguin out of The Wrong Trousers And fave movie hero? Hornblower Pet hate? Technology failures Favourite geological words? Scoriacious

Quick fire finale

Hammer or hand lens? Spade!

The Day after Tomorrow or Ice Age? Ice Age, definitely! David or Richard (Attenborough): David Hutton or Smith? Mary Anning Cox or Stewart? Stewart Leanne Hughes on Virkisjokull

Iceland fieldwork; getting to know you...... Jez Everest

Your name: Jez Everest

Your job title: Project Leader: Iceland Glacier Observatory

What that means in 5 words or less: Science coordinator and general dogsbody

What did you do today (8 May) : Got up at 4.30 to fly to Nottingham for a day of panicked meetings to organise our Royal Society exhibition

What creature comforts from home do you travel with? iPod and a good book

What did you want to be when you grew up? Han Solo

Who’s the best movie villain? Goldfinger

And fave movie hero? Silent Bob

Pet hate? Poor grammar

Favourite geological words? Bergschrund; pingo

Hammer or hand lens? Hand lens

The Day after Tomorrow or Ice Age? Day after tomorrow

David or Richard (Attenborough): David

Hutton or Smith? Hutton

Cox or Stewart? Stewart

ICELAND GLACIER OBSERVATORY: 23 April 2013 00:13

Collecting people from Höfn airport today, thought we'd try out the timelapse function on the GoPro... works rather well we thought :-)

The second day of this field campaign at Virkisjokull. This morning Verity and I took a walk on the watery side while the boys lugged big heavy bits of kit up onto the ice to measure things. Verity got kitted out in her waders to do some flow gauging of the Virkisa river, while I sat on the bank and wrote down the numbers she called out.

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