Monitoring the changes of our lifetime

格陵兰（Greenland）坚固耐用，覆盖着大约80％的表面的冰盖。冰川摆脱了冰盖，成为不断移动的冰河，被自己的大量重量推向海洋。研究人员最近对研究格陵兰冰的秘密引起了极大的兴趣，这有很多原因。一个是格陵兰岛特别容易受到气候变化的影响。冰盖融化的速度比世界上任何其他冰块都要快，冰川向大海的移动速度比五年前快十倍。另一个原因是，这个国家的冰约占地球上所有淡水的大约8％。如果这些冰川融化，融化的水将足以将海平面提高七米（20英尺），从而使数百万个地球上的人流离失所。这将对我们的环境产生严重的影响，这使得监视这些变化非常重要，这些变化正在我们的一生中发生。

Luc Moreau, a glaciologist based in Chamonix, France, has been studying the impressive four kilometre (two and a half miles) wide Eqip Sermia glacier in West Greenland for over three years. Luc, along with, the SPELEICE association and the MONALISA production company, recently organised an expedition to collect data on the speed of this glacier’s melt flow and to understand how this glacier’s ice moulins (deep holes that transport meltwater through glaciers) affect the speed of its melting. Accompanying them was Farouk Kadded, product manager of Geomatics at Leica Geosystems France, and together they set out using the state-of-the art Leica Nova MS50 MultiStation and real-time GNSS positioning instruments Leica GS14 antenna and Leica GS10 receiver. The MultiStation was chosen because it was capable of making accurate, reflectorless 3D scans from a distance of 1 – 2 km (0.6 – 1.2 mi), was lightweight and compact enough to be carried in a backpack and was proven to be reliable and rugged. It was also the only scanner on the market that offered all four technologies needed: total station, scanning, GNSS and imaging.

Measuring the Eqip Sermia’s movement flow
在上次探险中，LUC设置了一台相机，在过去几年中每天拍照。他能够通过从该相机拍摄的图像中拼凑出“时间流逝”胶片来识别冰川尺寸的变化。当这部薄膜伴随着Leica Geosystems设备的收集的地形数据时，可用于计算EQIP Sermia冰川流量的长度和速度。

After Luc and Farouk found stable ground for the GS10 receiver to serve as a reference point, they started out looking for the ideal measuring positions on the glacier. This was a dangerous task on the quickly shifting glacier surface with its deep and deadly ice chasms. Carrying the MultiStation, a tripod, a reflector target, the rugged Leica GS14 antenna and a pole, they first set up the MultiStation on the stable left bank with the Leica GS14 GNSS antenna on top to get the exact coordinates for the MS50 to measure the selected points at a range of 1.3 kilometres (0.8 miles). After this, they perilously crossed the glacier to position a reflective target. For four consecutive days, they collected position data at the same time of day to calculate the glacier melt flow over a 24-hour period.

冰川以每小时30厘米（12英寸）的速度移动，因此团队必须快速工作。图像首先是由多个Serac或Ice Towers的多阶段拍摄的，以帮助Luc和Farouk在第二天轻松地重新安置相同的观点。

The results proved that the glacier’s movement was up to 7 metres (23 feet) a day. The last measurements taken in 2012, revealed the Eqip Sermia moved 3 metres (10 feet) daily. This flow, when compared with other glaciers around the world, moving roughly 30 centimetres (12 inches) a day, is alarmingly fast. The team also proved the glacier lost roughly 500 metres (1,640 feet) in just the previous month. Another goal the team had set out to accomplish, that of using the Leica MultiStation to make a 3D scan for posterity of the historic cabin that French polar explorer Paul-Émile Victor used as a base for his expeditions, was also successfully completed. Also, a large lake several kilometres inland on the Eqip Sermia’s surface was discovered. Should this water somehow find its way into a crack, it could cause a glacier meltdown. Finally results also proved that the glacier is melting 100 times faster below the surface of the ocean than above.

Measuring the inside the ice moulin
After making the same, day long trek on the path explorer Paul-Émile Victor took to reach the glacier’s ice cap 60 years ago, the team set up camp and searched for a “moulin” to make the 3D scan. This scan would determine if the water inside a moulin did indeed reach the rock bed below the glacier. Why are these moulins so important to researching glaciers? With Greenland feeling global warming much more than the rest of the world, lakes of meltwater appear on the surfaces of the glaciers on very warm days. The excess lake water produces rivers that melt the ice at an alarmingly rate. If this water gets into a moulin, it will begin to swirl and erode the ice and find its way to the bottom of the glacier on Greenland’s bedrock. This water builds up under the glacier and works like a lubricant. The glacier easily slides on this water surface and the forces of gravity push the massive weight of the ice even faster, towards the ocean.

The meltwater’s journey
卢克（Luc）和法鲁克（Farouk）设法在冰露头（Ice Roulin）内部的部落上建立了多个杂货店，以扫描冰裂缝的细节。随着一些红牛的深度高达200米（650英尺），这确实令人兴奋。从来没有做过如此准确的扫描，即水的流量如何形成冰川红磨室内的角落和缝隙，将其进度记录到冰的底部。

工作在这个洞并非没有危险s. Should the surface temperature fluctuate as much as 1-2°C (34-36°F), glacier water could start to melt and flow into the moulin, flooding everything. Scanning took an entire day, but they were able to scan the moulin in its entirety, measuring vertically, bit by bit, from the river that created it to its deepest part, collecting roughly 500,000 highly detailed points. Depth, circumference and width can all be provided by a 3D scan taken by the Leica MS50 MultiStation and the results were fascinating.

“The idea of measuring this way was to have all the dimensions of a moulin in order to appreciate its development over time and the deformation of the ice. The results proved very effective, the model visuals are excellent and the device well suited for this type of opening — provided you have good weather!” says Luc Moreau excitedly.

3D扫描证明了Leica MS50多站的多功能性及其在特殊情况下的鲁棒性。它的新程序和功能共同努力，整合新技术，使测量更加可靠，更快，更完整，使研究人员能够接收他们所需的信息。与处于其领域最前沿的公司合作，只能帮助研究人员促进他们理解不断变化的气候。

Written by Farouk Kadded and Luc Moreau