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In 2003 Orange & Black Consultancy Ltd sponsored two people to
work as volunteers on an EarthWatch project. As is typical with EarthWatch projects the two people went as private individuals and worked on whatever tasks were assigned to them - as if they were undergraduate students on a field trip.
The project was called EarthWatch
- Icelandic
Glaciers and the brief summary is :
- The most recent jkulhlaup (glacial flood) took place in 1996, when
an eruption under the Vatnajkull ice cap washed huge volumes of sediment
and ice blocks into the Atlantic, causing millions of dollars in flood
damage. Events like this offer scientists like Dr. Andrew Russell,
Dr. Fiona Tweed and Prof. Ian Fairchild an amazing opportunity to
examine the behavior and effects of jkulhlaups and glaciers. Your work
promises not only to aid engineers in building safer roads and bridges, but
will improve our understanding of glaciers' role within the global climate
system.
The basic deal with EarthWatch is as follows:
You or your company pay for you to be a working volunteer on a project.
The money paid is used to pay for the research, admin, and maybe your food
and accomodation. It does not include any transportation costs. Typically
you will be expected to make your own way to and from the research site and
to cover your own travel and insurance costs. You will also generally be
exected to provide any 'normal' outdoor clothing suitable for the climate.
You may also need to provide basic sleeping kit such as a sleeping bag and
mat.
EarthWatch always provide a detailed pre-project briefing. This lays down
everything that you will be doing and what is expected of you. It will
include typical working hours and typical fitness levels that you will need.
It doesn't joke...
After doing this you will work according to what the Scientists
require. This could include walking some distance, carrying equipment, data
collection, data analysis and anything else that is necessary for the
research project.
You will also be required to help out with the daily chores such as cooking
and cleaning. Everyone works.
In return for all of this hard work you get to do some real scientific
research and get to see the results in their raw unpublished form. You could
be doing things that have been done by either no-one or only a few dozen
people in the world.
A week or two weeks working in the field is quite a commitment. If you are
not ready for this then EarthWatch often do weekend trips which are run in a
similar way and can give you a taste of what it is all about.
The specifics of this trip are written up in the following pages:
- Objectives
- Practicalities - a typical day
- The Research - Areas that were addressed and some pictures
- Some fun pictures
This is the Co. Director (Mike) working with a guy known as Dr Phil.
In the background is the glacier and to the right is a glacial lake. The ground
we are standing on is about 20ft of Sand and pebbles on an ice bed. The machine
is a high-tech version of a theodolite.
On the glacier itself conditions are a little tougher. Here traditional
methods of GPS , Tape measures and angle measures are needed. The glacier is
covered in and contains a very high amount of basalt sand - which is black. The
interaction of the sand, the sun and the ice means that weird shapes are carved
onto the surface of the ice. In the background is the flood plane for the
glacier. It extends for some 40 miles wide and 15 miles deep. Some more
fun pictures are available at
www.nielnliz.freeserve.co.uk
To find out about Earthwatch go to their web
site
New Ventures
As an experiment I have created a new micro-site that talks about ultralight backpacking in the UK. The link is here.
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