Chasing Ice

13 Oct Chasing Ice

Where the glacier goes to die: Pieces of the great Breidermerkurjokull washed up on the beach at Jokulsarlon, Iceland. The ice was originally created 500-700 years ago in snowstorms high on the great Vatnajokull Ice Cap. The Breidermerjokull is one of the ice streams draining the ice cap. The ice stream has been retreating since 1930, leaving the tidewater lagoon known as “Jokulsarlon.” Calved into Jokulsarlon, the icebergs float across the lagoon, breaking into smaller and smaller pieces as they go, then flow into the waves of the North Atlantic. At high tide, they wash up on the beach, then are taken away by the sea when the high tide returns half a day later. Through the process of destruction, they are contributing, drop by drop, to the rise of global sea level. The chunks of ice have been dubbed “ice diamonds” by James Balog.