Another Ash Cloud Ruining Flight Plans: Thanks, Iceland

We had three nights left in Greenland, each in a different city: Narsarsuaq, Nuuk, and Kangerlussuaq - in that order. But if you remember, while eating dinner on our last night in Narsarsuaq we saw a C130 airplane land and a bunch of NATO troops got off the plane, which had been rerouted to Narsarsuaq because the Grimsvold Volcano in Iceland erupted sending microscopic particulates into the air above the North Atlantic.

Immediately, we checked our flight plan for the next day. We were supposed to leave Narsarsuaq for Nuuk at 4:30pm, but when we checked the hotel's flight status screen, our flight was not even showing. It's not that it was there but cancelled or delayed; it was just not there... The airport was, of course, closed for the evening and the Air Greenland customer service offices were closed. There was nothing we could do, it seemed, so we took a few minutes to sit down in the hotel lobby and discuss everything that we had seen so far, making sure our scientific expectations, observations, and hypotheses were all in line. Then we went upstairs and lined up all 50-some samples we'd collected thus far in a row, making sure they were all there, and then putting the sample bags into more bags, taped them shut, and stuffed them in two coolers to bring back on the plane with us...if we even were going to get a plane.

The next morning, Paul got up around 6am and went to the airport to see if we could change our reservation to an earlier morning flight. Air Greenland granted us the seats but said that the furthest we could get that day, based on ash-cloud monitoring maps, was Nuuk. In the meantime, the Polar Research Support Staff in Kangerlussuaq was trying to get a hold of us, telling us to get back to Kanger as soon as possible because there were only three C130s and they were all leaving as soon as they possibly could. We hurried and packed the rest of our luggage to check in for our flight.

By the time we got to the check-in counter we had a lucky surprise: we were going to be booked on flights through Nuuk all the way up to Kangerlussuaq, getting us in later that evening. The caveat was that our Nuuk to Kanger flight was dependent on the ash cloud. We would find out upon landing in Nuuk if we could get to Kanger. Earlier that day, all flights in and out of Kanger were cancelled because the ash cloud was heading directly toward it.

With as much concern as there was over the ash cloud, our flight from Narsarsuaq to Nuuk was totally smooth.

View of the Narsarsuaq glacier on our departure flight

Nunataks sticking up through the Ice Sheet with some ice falls and longitudinal crevaces

Buildings and a harbor in Nuuk

Downtown Nuuk

 In Nuuk, we were in the airport for no less than ten minutes when an announcement, made in Danish and Greenlandic, came over the PA system. A nice woman, also an academic, translated for us, telling us that the air over Kangerlussuaq was ash-free, but we would have to fly in from the west after making a detour stop in the coastal town of Sisimiut. And sure enough, in less than two hours, we were landing in Kangerlussuaq....right as one of the three remaining C130s was taking off, which meant there were two left, and we needed to be sure to secure our spot on one of them!

West Greenland coast

Coastal mountains

Large town of Sisimiut

Harbor in Sisimiut

Sisimiut Airport

Sisimiut Airport landing strip

Once we landed in Kangerlussuaq we found out that the next flight back to the US was not leaving until the next morning. We then had the rest of the afternoon to collect a few more samples, but not before a bite to eat.

I was told that I could not leave Kangerlussuaq without trying the Musk Ox Pizza, which is exactly what we did and it was delicious! The guy who ran the pizza place was very friendly and energetic, shouting at the soccer games on the television he had in his shop! Though really greasy, the pizza was some of the best I'd ever had.

Musk Ox pizza with red chiles and onions

One of the few actual restaurants in Kangerlussuaq

We split up our group and collected a few more samples, Paul and I by bike and Jeremy and Dylan by truck. Unfortunately, by the time we met back up, the airport cafeteria was closed and our only food option was back at the Thai food restaurant, which we ate while continuing our trip-summary conversations. We got word that the second of the three flights back home was leaving the next morning and we were on it, so around midnight, we pulled on our eye-shades and went to bed.

The next morning came quick and before we knew it we were back on the canvas and cargo-strap netting seats with about three other scientists and about thirty Air National Guardsmen/Air Force Personnel. These guys had been up in Greenland for a long time already and anxious to get back home and were not fooling around about our takeoff. It was a close call, our flight home, and other Arctic researchers may not have been so lucky.

The last C130 flight back to the US was waiting for the air to clear so they could try and retrieve about 20 scientists stuck up at the Summit Research Station in the middle of the Ice Sheet, directly underneath the ash cloud. They were going to wait one more day to see if they could get the researchers, and if they could not, they were leaving - meaning that the researchers at the Summit Station, who were excited to come home after 3-6 weeks up on the ice, would be stuck for another 3 weeks!

I consider myself lucky not only to have the chance to go to Greenland and experience the wildlife and landscapes it has to offer, but as we were flying away back to the US, I thought how lucky the Summit Researchers were if they did get stuck in Greenland for another three weeks. It's not the most lively place to be stuck, but I can think of hundreds of other places that would be much worse to be stuck.

I plan on returning to Greenland someday, in some fashion. It's not the easiest place to get to, but it's not impossible; it's not the cheapest place to travel, but it's manageable. And I urge anyone who has read all the way down here, at the bottom, to make it a point to get there sooner rather than later. The local culture is still in tact, but with mining companies starting various operations in Greenland, I cannot imagine it will be long before the economic disparity between the European mining executives and local Greenlandic workers becomes so big that the local culture will be dampened.

So to my friends, Sarah and Steve: Yes, people do travel to Greenland and I suggest you get there, too!