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Bergs and boats

Icebergs drift into the port of Tasiilaq in Greenland, where WHOI scientists and colleagues from the University of Maine were based this summer while measuring ocean temperatures in nearby Sermilik Fjord. The goal was to investigate if the recent acceleration of Greenland’s ice sheet is due to ocean warming ocean, said WHOI researcher Fiamma Straneo. Scientists collected measurements using a small boat, which they could navigate easily through the maze of icebergs and sea-ice bobbing in the fjord. The larger vessels in the background are (from left) the local ferry, a Faeroese fishing boat, and a visiting police boat from Nuuk.

(Photo by Fiamma Straneo, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)