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Copenhagen University researchers set world record in Greenland
Lucie Rychla
May 29th, 2015
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This article is more than 9 years old.
They transported a 150-tonne research station across almost 500 kilometres of frozen land
Greenland captured by NASA (photo: Rex)
Researchers from the University of Copenhagen set a world record over the Pentecost bank holiday weekend.
They spent eight days transporting a 150-tonne research station NEEM across the ice sheet of Greenland, crossing some 465 kilometres.
Something like this has never been done before.
Travelling to a new base-camp
The researchers pulled the NEEM station on skis and sleighs across the inland region of the country from the northwest to the northeast of Greenland.
On Tuesday at 16:00 local time, they finally arrived at their new camp, EGRIP.
Measuring melting ice
From next year, EGRIP will be a home to an international drilling camp researching the loss of Greenland’s inland ice and seawater rise.
About 60 metres of the Greenlandic ice melts away each year into the sea.
A camp on skis and sleighs
The EGRIP camp consists of the central building, the Dome, which includes a kitchen, living room and work spaces.
The Dome measures 14 metres, weighs 47 tonnes and stands on skis.
Additionally, the camp has several sturdy tents that stand on 11 sleighs and are used as bedrooms, storage rooms and a garage.
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