Armada of icebergs in the Victoria Fjord during GEOEO

August 28, 2024, Johan Nilsson. We have now completed our exploration of the Victoria Fjord. Oden only managed to get 30 km into the 70 km long fjord. At that point the concentration of enormous icebergs became so dense that further progress was impossible.

2024-08-28; 82°N, 48°W

Iceberg from Oden. Photo: Johan Nilsson/MISU/Stockholm University
Photo: Johan Nilsson/MISU/Stockholm University

Some icebergs had horizontal extents of over 10 km, and several of them were as high as Oden (30 m), implying that they extend 300 m below the sea surface.

Icebergs. Photo: Johan Nilsson/MISU/Stockholm University
Photo: Johan Nilsson/MISU/Stockholm University

So far the expedition has been highly successful: we did not know if the thick multi-year sea ice in the Lincoln Sea would allow us to reach Victoria Fjord. Also, it has been a relatively cold summer in North Greenland, and sea ice in the fjord did melt away this year.

Given the harsh conditions here, we were lucky to reach the fjord at all, and to directly study its outer part.

Iceberg. Photo: Johan Nilsson/MISU/Stockholm University
Photo: Johan Nilsson/MISU/Stockholm University

Helicopter missions have allowed us to survey depth- and oceanographic conditions further into the fjord and the front of C. H. Ostenfeld Glacier, which is the source of iceberg armadas in the fjord.