A Tour of Lake Joyce
We spend most of our days down on Lake Joyce, and its truly amazing. Its a round lake, a little less than a kilometer in diameter. It sits in a big bowl, with mountains surrounding it. We took the time to hike around the lake in order to record the current shoreline using GPS units. The lake level has risen about 9-10 meters since 1961 because of climate change. We need to walk to each of our drill sites. We have sleds to pull our science equipment or drills from one place to another. We also have stabilizers to put on over our boots that have metal nuts on the bottom for traction.
One side of the lake is pressed against the mighty Taylor Glacier. I'm used to the alpine glaciers of North America, and this glacier is huge in comparison! In contrast to most glaciers around the world, the ones here are so cold that they are actually frozen to the bedrock underneath instead of having a water interface, and that causes them to move much slower. There are parts of the face of Taylor glacier that a breaking off in chunks- we didn't get too close to those sections.
The lake ice is also fascinating and beautiful. It’s not flatly uniform as one might expect. The the top layer of the edge of the lake melts every year and then refreezes, so it forms a lane called a moat. The moat is very very smooth and easy and fast to walk on. I think of it as traveling on a freeway. The moat is between 10-30 feet wide.
Me on the moat with Taylor Glacier in the background.
The morning commute.
Once you leave the moat, headed towards the middle of the lake, the ice changes pretty fast. Its been subjected to numerous melting and freezing cycles. Additionally, strong winds carve out the ice over time. The wind blow drifts of sediment onto the lake, and the drifts absorb more light and heat, causing uneven melting of the top layer of lake ice. The result is that a lot of the ice is uneven, with rises and dips. Walking across it is more challenging, and I think of this area as the sidestreets.
Tyler and Justin wrestling with sled on rough lake ice- in manner of cantankerous donkey.
Then towards the center of the lake, the ice is very very chaotic, with jumbles 5 feet high with exceedingly beautiful shapes. Some of the ice is clear, some white, some blue. Sometimes you can look down into the ice and see pockets of sediment below the hard surface. I can hear funny noises when I'm standing on a layer with a hollow pocket below it. (Don't worry- its only hollow for a foot or so, and then solid under that for 4 meters.) This is particularly challenging to walk on- the four wheel drive, high clearance road.
It’s always beautiful to see the different textures of ice, and I look forward to seeing how they change as the temperature warms up and the top layers start to melt.
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