From June 10 to August 9, PhD student Helen Werner joined the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP). JIRP is an academical expedition dedicated to glacier science, mountaineering skills, and team building. Over the course of two months, students crossed the Juneau Icefield from Juneau, Alaska to Atlin, British Columbia on skis, supported by safety staff.
Together with academic instructors, students engaged in projects focused on field data acquisition and analysis. These projects included studying the glacial drainage system using seismology, remote sensing of the Vaughan Lewis Icefall, lapse-rate measurements, or using isotope measurements in ice cores to understand historical climate. The mass balance data collected this summer contribute to a long-term dataset and provides valuable information on temporal and spatial changes of mass balance on the icefield. The expedition was not only a lot of fun but also a great opportunity to study glaciers on the remote icefield.
More information on the program can be found here: https://juneauicefield.org/.
