Maker Buoy Variants for Water Level Monitoring and Tracking Drifting Objects in Remote Areas of Greenland

Meltwater runoff from the Greenland Ice Sheet changes water levels in glacial lakes and can lead to glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF) events that threaten lives and property. Icebergs produced at Greenland’s marine terminating glaciers drift into Baffin Bay and the North Atlantic, where they can...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors
Main Authors: Daniel F. Carlson, Wayne J. Pavalko, Dorthe Petersen, Martin Olsen, Andreas E. Hass
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020
Subjects:
greenland
glacial lake outburst flooding
iceberg tracking
environmental monitoring
affordable sensors
real-time data
Chemical technology
TP1-1185
Baffin Bay
Greenland
Glacial Lake
Vaigat
Baffin
Ice Sheet
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/s20051254
https://doaj.org/article/d171ef6dc59a447cae8374dec303c7e1
Description
Summary:Meltwater runoff from the Greenland Ice Sheet changes water levels in glacial lakes and can lead to glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF) events that threaten lives and property. Icebergs produced at Greenland’s marine terminating glaciers drift into Baffin Bay and the North Atlantic, where they can threaten shipping and offshore installations. Thus, monitoring glacial lake water levels and the drift of icebergs can enhance safety and aid in the scientific studies of glacial hydrology and iceberg-ocean interactions. The Maker Buoy was originally designed as a low-cost and open source sensor to monitor surface ocean currents. The open source framework, low-cost components, rugged construction and affordable satellite data transmission capabilities make it easy to customize for environmental monitoring in remote areas and under harsh conditions. Here, we present two such Maker Buoy variants that were developed to monitor water level in an ice-infested glacial lake in southern Greenland and to track drifting icebergs and moorings in the Vaigat Strait (Northwest Greenland). We describe the construction of each design variant, methods to access data in the field without an internet connection, and deployments in Greenland in summer 2019. The successful deployments of each Maker Buoy variant suggest that they may also be useful in operational iceberg management strategies and in GLOF monitoring programs.

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