Last view before Spring 2022

Another frantically busy day, lots to fit in before the year end. Spent a very productive afternoon in consultation with colleagues about our fieldwork plans next year. Another colleague is in Greenland now setting out instruments that will monitor all winter. We will visit in April and do some very comprehensive observations as part of our National Centre for Climate Research project in this region.
Having satellite photos to help in planning is such a major advantage - and thanks to ESA's earth observation programme a lot of it is not only free but also easy to access via sentinel hub etc.
I took this view of a glacier near where we will work on the snapplanet mobile phone app.
The view is actually from early October but Sentinel 2, the European satellite it comes from, is an optical sensor- that means it basically doesn't work well in the dark and this area is so far north we won't see enough daylight until late February probably.

Other satellites, like Sentinel 1, use radar to see through clouds and darkness so they can still give us some information but I liked the view here. I could sit and look at earth art like this all day.
The freeze up season is well underway with a thin skin of sea ice forming and the melange of ice bergs, bergy bits clearly visible in front of the calving front of the glacier.

This evening we heard there will be new stricter COVID rules introduced in Denmark, including home schooling for all kids from next Wednesday, but it will essentially be a longer Christmas holiday I think. The government would like all 5-11 year olds to be vaccinated in December. It could happen, there are lots of appointments, my kids have already had their 1st dose.
I will also work from home more but we have survived before and it is soothing to look at the eternal(ish) ice a long long long way away...