Alexander Island, Antarctic Peninsula

Ablation Point Massif

These photographs are from our November to December 2012 season to Alexander Island on the Antarctic Peninsula. We undertook 5 weeks of fieldwork, where Mike Hambrey, Bethan Davies and Ian Hey (BAS Field Assistant) investigated both modern and ancient ice-shelf moraines.

We spent four weeks at Ablation Point Massif, an Antarctic Specially Protected Area. In order to avoid damaging sensitive landforms and the delicate ecology, we used no vehicles, walking across the land and frozen lake. This meant landing a twin otter aeroplane on George VI Ice Shelf and walking from there to our basecamp.

You can explore our field area with the Google Map below. If you look carefully, you’ll be able to see the frozen Ablation Lake and the pressure ridges as the ice shelf presses against Alexander Island.

View Larger Map

You can watch a video of our fieldwork here:

Field Area

The map below shows our field area, our basecamp and the depot on the ice-shelf.

ablation valley_field map — Simple map of Ablation Point Massif, showing our field sites and location of our depot on the ice shelf.

The photographs below show the field area, camp life and working conditions. You can read more about it on my blog.

We were deployed in early November by a single Twin Otter aircraft, which landed on George VI Ice Shelf. We man-hauled all our equipment to a basecamp among the moraines.

img_7154-copy — Icebergs caught in sea ice, viewed from the Twin Otter in early Summer, before the sea ice melts.

img_7191-copy — Bethan flies the twin otter

Ablation Lake and Ablation Valley from the air

img_7340-copy — Ablation Lake, with pressure ridges from George VI Ice Shelf

img_7308-copy — Ablation Valley; The Mound with tongues of glacier ice either side.

Flying over our field area; Moutonnée Valley

img_7328-copy — Moutonnée Valley. Note the ice-dammed lake and George VI Ice Shelf behind.

img_7405-copy — Ablation Point, with ice-shelf pressure ridges and ice-shelf moraines.

img_7272-copy — Ice shelf moraines, Ablation Point

img_7418-copy — Landing the twin otter on Georve VI Ice Shelf, about 4 km from our intended basecamp

img_7480-copy — The route is unknown and must be carefully tested for crevasses

img_7446-copy — Manhauling all our kit towards basecamp, across the flat and floating ice shelf

img_7512-copy — Our first night at basecamp. We arrived and set up camp at around midnight.

img_7520-copy — It took three days to manhaul all our kit. This is us returning to the depot.

Camplife

We were camped in one three-person tent and we had a poo tent for comfort! We slept, cooked at ate in the tent, using primus stoves and tilly lamps. As it was very cold (about -20°C in early November), we had to cut and melt snow for drinking water. On days when the weather was poor, we worked in the tent, analysing our date and measuring clast shape.

cimg0085-copy — Ian Hey walks across a frozen pond on the ice-shelf moraines

cimg0112-copy — At -20°C, you have to melt snow for drinking water

img_7724-copy — Making tea involves cutting snow to pan-sized blocks.

img_7730-copy — A plane visits, buzzing basecamp

img_7798-copy — Inside the tent, with the stove on for a cup of tea.

img_7899-copy — The tide crack at the margin of the lake

img_7910-copy — Dramatic clouds around basecamp

img_7917-copy — Mike Hambrey measureing pebbles to learn about glacial processes

img_7924-copy — Ian Hey recording pebble measurements during a lie-up day.

img_7971-copy — Clouds threatening our basecmap

Fieldwork

Fieldwork comprised mapping and logging the ice-shelf moraines, and their older equivalents at higher elevations. We took cosmogenic nuclide samples of erratic granite boulders from Palmer Land to investigate the age of these older moraines.

img_7540-copy — The ice-shelf pressure ridges

img_7715-copy — Some pebbles show scratches (striations) from glacial action.

img_7558-copy — Frost action cracks the rocks

img_7659-copy — The ice-cored moraines at the margins of the ice shelf

img_7687-copy — Ice-shelf moraines with Ablation Point in the distance

img_7783-copy — The ice-shelf moraines contain granite boulders from Palmer Land

img_7800-copy — Ablation Lake, with lake-ice pressure ridges

img_7809-copy — Trekking across the lake to map the other valleys

img_7812-copy — Lake ice pressure ridges

img_7818-copy — Lake ice pressure ridges

img_7823-copy — Lake ice pressure ridges

img_7843-copy — Ablation Valley with glacier moraines

img_7873-copy — Mike Hambrey mapping ice-shelf moraines

img_7875-copy — Glacier ice in the ice-shelf moraines

img_8023-copy — We used sledges to drag our heavy rucksacks across Ablation Lake

img_8041-copy — Ian Hey at Ablation Lake

img_8144-copy — Ian Hey and Mike Hambrey crossing Ablation Lake

img_8153-copy — Lake ice pressure ridges

img_8182-copy — Ice shelf pressure ridges

img_8194-copy — Ice shelf pressure ridges

img_8357-copy — Pressure ridges through icicles

Mapping glacier moraines (from a large boulder!)

Large ice cliffs from George VI Ice Shelf push into Moutonnée Lake

A frozen waterfall from a cold-based glacier

Uplift and Redeployment

We were uplifted at the end of November. It had gradually been getting warmer all month and the ice-shelf was starting to melt, which is why we were in the field so early.

Time to go; manhauling all our kit back to the depot

Mike Hambrey arrives at the depot on George VI Ice Shelf

Fossil Bluff

After four weeks at Ablation Point Massif, we moved on to Fossil Bluff, where the British Antarctic Survey have a refuelling depot. There is a skiway and a small stone cottage, “Bluebell Cottage”. We were there for four days, completing geomorphological mapping of the local area.

drune-hill — Drune Hill, above Fossil Bluff

khufu-corrie — Khufu Corrie above Fossil Bluff

Fossil Bluff, with Bluebell Cottage left

Looking down valley towards Fossil Bluff

Antarctic Peninsula and open water now visible

Read more about our fieldwork on the C3W website.

Alexander Island