Photography | Climate Change | Greenland

A Shadow of Their Former Selves

September Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Shadows”

Saying goodbye to Greenland’s melting glaciers

As an oceanographer I have been fortunate enough to conduct research in remote and pristine parts of the world. Visiting places that have remained wild and untamed has been a true privilege. Of all the places that I’ve visited, Greenland holds a special place in my heart. Greenland’s fjords, crowded with icebergs, and her glaciers, towering and other-worldly, pull me inexorably back, liberating me, if only for a short time, from my dull suburban existence.

Exploring Greenland’s glaciers has been a thrilling and humbling experience. At first glance, they appear to be a static part of the landscape, but looks, as they say, can be deceiving.

Glaciers change rapidly in summer, sliding ever downhill, forming crevasses and chasms, and calving icebergs at their termini. This near-constant motion generates a range of sounds, ranging from low grumblings to sharp cracks that make your hair stand on end. For those of us with strong survival instincts, just being in their vicinity puts our senses on high alert.

In a moment of fleeting romanticism, I might let myself think that they are not just huge hulking masses of ice, but sentient beings, older and certainly wiser than us meddling humans. Romantic or not, this sense of vitality passes to me, making me feel more alive than I ever could on a city street or in a suburban park.

But these glaciers that formed over 130 thousand years ago are dying, overshadowing the excitement that I used to feel with a sense of profound sadness. Glaciers that I visited only a few years ago have changed dramatically, retreating and thinning much faster than expected. While most of these glaciers will certainly outlive me, I can’t help but feel a sense of grief, knowing that they are already lost.