Sampling Greenland: The Dark Snow Project January 6, 2013

Over the past decade, the Greenland ice sheet has been getting darker and less reflective, absorbing more solar energy. This past summer a record-breaking melt extended over the entire surface area of the ice sheet.

Greenland expert Jason Box has been studying and publishing about this phenomenon, and has become concerned about the possible role of increasing wildfires worldwide in the deposition of soot on ice sheets.

The only way to nail the science is to go to the top of the ice sheet and take samples.

Dr. Box, along with Bill Mckibben and myself, is kicking off the Dark Snow Project – to raise funds for what we hope will be the first independent, crowd sourced scientific expedition to the arctic.

This is part one of a two part video upload to kick off the new year. See the second video below.