Abbigale Bennett, Stephen Cox, Sophie Battinson, Timothy Kempf, Daniel Leicester & Helen O’Riordan

• BSc (Hons) Physical Geography
• University Expedition 2015: The interaction between ice loss and hydrology on the Russell Glacier, West Greenland

In September 2014, Sophie Battinson, Stephen Cox, Daniel Leicester, Timothy Kempf, Helen O’Riordan and I came together with the idea of doing our dissertation research in Greenland. We gained £8600 of funding from various organisations. Newcastle University heavily supported our project, with £4000 of our funding coming from the Sonia Stonehouse fund and the University Expeditions Fund. Other organisations supporting us were the Royal Geographical Society, Scott Polar Research Institute and Gilchrist Educational Trust.

Flying on 3^rd August 2015 to Kangerlussuaq, we set up camp the following day. The first week and a half was used to set up our experiments, finding the perfect sites and modifying methods. We collected data almost every day, with rest days twice a week. There were many difficulties, such as strong winds, collecting water, and summoning the energy to perform basic tasks. We soon found out that cooking and collecting water took five times the amount of energy it did at home.

It was worth the effort of applying for funding to study a glacier first hand and to see the northern lights. We felt very privileged to go, and would return in an instant.

Project Supervisor: Prof Andy Russell

Funding sources: Newcastle University Expeditions Committee, Sonia Stonehouse Fund, Royal Geographical Society, Scott Polar Research Institute and Gilchrist Educational Trust