In the summer of 2015 a NASA-funded team of researchers camped out on the ablation zone--or melt zone--of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Their goal: to conduct a bold and coordinated set of measurements that should help us better understand how meltwater is transported from the ice sheet and into the sea, and ultimately how much that process will affect sea level rise. Larry Smith from UCLA led a team of hydrologists who conducted 72 straight hours of measurements across a river of meltwater, just upstream from where that river plunged into a moulin, or hole in the ice. Smith and Berkeley researcher Vena Chu also placed drifting science beacons in three tributaries of that river to monitor the water as it moved downstream. A few hours after their deployment all three beacons driften by camp, having accomplished their mission. This footage chronicles the flight from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland by helicopter en route to the main camp, as well as the deployment of the drifting beacons.
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