Blackbreen, Svalbard

Leader Matt, Ankur and Fraser mapping the glacier. This shows Fraser with the rover. Leica have developed a system whereby you can carry the unit in a backpack and operate it from a small controller. Because we were working on a glacier we needed to be roped up. Starting at the edge of the glacier the leader would walk out until the rope went taut, they would then take a snow depth measurement with an avalanche probe and mark the point with an X. They would then either shout the measurement to the person with the controller or, if it was too windy, write the number in the snow next to the marker. They would then move forward, until the rope went taut again. At this point the last person on the rope (the one with the rover) would have reached the marker and they can take the GPS measurement. Meanwhile the person at the front would repeat the process. This way, measurements were taken an equal distance apart (approximately 25m) each time. Thanks to James for the photo.