Drones are helping to map Greenland’s melting glaciers

Drones and satellites have the immense power to view things that human eyes cannot, and provide a bird’s eye view. In the recent years, these technological advancements have found various geological implementations.

Joseph Cook, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sheffield is using the drones to do just that. A Rolex Award Young Laureate, camps for months on the ice sheets of Greenland. Though nerve wrecking and uncomfortable, it’s the only way to accurately map the impact of climate change. He studies how microscopic algae are causing glaciers to retreat. He has spent two years mapping the ice sheets by flying drones over it in a grid pattern. Due to the extensive research with the help of drones, he now knows what species of algae is growing and is modelling the impacts of different pigmentations, cell sizes and growth conditions – before finding out if these predictions are what happens in reality.

To bridge the gap between the small areas he’s studying on the ground and the 500-metre-scale satellite maps from the sky, Cook has added cameras and sensors to the drones to take images in specific light wavelengths, which gives a way to map life on ice.

Greenland has about seven metres of sea level locked away in it and it’s a giant reflector of solar radiation. If lost, it will amplify climate warming and release a lot of water into the sea. The method being used by Cook can be rolled out for more sensitive and complex glaciers and ice streams that have more complicating factors once the mechanisms that cause the retreat are understood.