Iceapelago

by Peter Brennan

  He wasn’t allowed to muse for too long.

  ‘Tony, I’ve an idea – even an inspired idea’.

  O’Farrell stood up as if to make a speech. She caught Doherty’s eye and talked directly to him, but loud enough for all to hear.

  ‘Rather than PLU spending unnecessary time searching the seabed for signs of volcanic activity, could the Holland 2 join the party by carrying out an advanced video mapping exercise of potential vents. In that way, we can drive to a more precise location if you find anything of interest.’

  ‘Yes, that’s very doable. On the basis of today’s experience, we should be finished our salinity testing within four hours, well before most of you get up for breakfast, and can easily maintain the ROV at the seabed until the PLU arrives. We also have 4K video HD so can transmit pictures to the control room and onwards to your screens. Our lamps are not as powerful as PLU’s, but I can guarantee you they are good enough to illuminate an area ten metres square.’

  Gilmore nodded. ‘That makes a lot of sense. Given the time difference and the slight delay in setting up the PLU’s second dive, we might manage to get some insights from HUGO about their findings and some guidance about what more we should be looking for.’

  Captain Killen had the final word.

  ‘Let’s wrap up now and set the tables for dinner. Its movie night later and will be showing the mariner’s all-time favourite: Jaws 2.’

  ‘Prophetic,’ muttered someone.

  CHAPTER 7

  Observatorio Roque de los Muchachos

  The deep throb of the rotors could be heard in the clear mountain air long before the military Sikorsky appeared above the thick nimbus clouds that were below the mountain peaks. As the helicopter got nearer to the landing area beside the ORM car park it hovered overhead for what sounded like an eternity before it settled effortlessly onto the helipad.

  ‘Simon, what’s going on. What’s that racket?’

  Ros rubbed his sleepy eyes. He wasn’t a morning person. He was certainly not a six o’clock in the morning person. His customary habit of using Twitter and Facebook into the small hours of the morning was a contributing factor to his tiredness.’

  ‘That’s a helicopter,’ said Simon. ‘I believe we’re getting an official visit of some sort. As it might be Mark, we better get dressed I suppose.’

  Minutes later, as they approach the helicopter, they saw a group of six men who were in the process of taking off their emergency gear. ORM staff were busying themselves unloading several huge crates.

  Antonio Farillo, the ORM Director, was talking over the noise to a tall, tanned, bearded man in his mid-fifties who wore a New York Yankees baseball cap . They instantly recognised Mark Doyle who walked over to them.

  ‘The brothers Rodriquez, I assume?’

  ‘Yes, Mr Doyle,’ said Ros, somewhat in awe.

  He was after all meeting his hero for the first time.

  ‘No need for the ‘Mr’, Ros. Call me Mark. I have little time for formalities, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Sure,’ said Ros.

  ‘I would murder a double espresso. Let’s go inside so that I can introduce my team.’ Mark walked into the ORM with a brisk step.

  Ros and Simon had never started work at such an early hour. They took their place at the end of the boardroom table and nursed their first coffee of the day. It was so early that the kitchen staff had not even baked the daily supply of croissants and fresh bread.

  ‘It’s not yet 7 a.m. and this guy has a bundle of energy, having flown from Hawaii and across the Atlantic overnight. How are we going to survive this pace?’ said Ros.

  ‘The jet lag will get him sooner rather than later,’ replied Simon.

  ‘No, it won’t,’ smiled Mark, who had overheard what the brothers thought was a whispered conversation. ‘Let’s get started. We’ve identified several potential target areas from the seismic data to date. This mountain area along the entire length of the Caldera de Taburiente from Roque Palermo to Pico de la Nieve is at most risk as are the volcanoes along the rim of the Ruta. There have also been worrying readings at the base of the National Park. I’m less concerned about the southernmost area of the island, but we’ll need to monitor it. We’ve a great base camp here at the ORM that has all the support facilities, communication links and logistics that befit an emergency coordination centre.

  He paused and took another sup of his coffee.

  Mark, who had thirty years’ experience of volcano watching across the globe – most of it at very close quarters, didn’t show his intense sense of foreboding. The series of seismic readings from across the Canaries to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge was now a cause of deep concern to all the Governments on the Atlantic Rim. While the intensity of the earthquakes wasn’t too severe, the fact that so many locations were showing readings wasn’t a good sign. Getting a handle on the significance of the collective readings was his priority.

  He started his introductions.

  ‘This is Franco Bradelle, a colleague of mine at the Global Seismographic Network, when he’s not abseiling down the rim of an active volcano. I’ll let him explain what we’ve got in mind.’

  One would never have guessed that Franco was Portuguese. He spoke English with a mid-Atlantic drawl with a trace of an English university accent. He dressed and behaved like a US Marine and his tone of voice was that of a leader. Judging by his tailored head-to-toe work fatigues, his favourite colour was desert khaki . He dressed to impress.

  ‘Thanks Mark. To cut to the chase, we need to set up two core monitoring teams, one for each of the priority zones we’ve identified. We’ve a lot of recent experience from our visits to Iceland that we hope to put to good use here. Two military sized drones with supporting computers are being unpacked as we speak. We’ve adapted the drones to enable them to measure gases from newly formed vents as well as taking high resolution photo images. Importantly, these gadgets can also take thermal infrared heat seeking images that will allow us identify vents before they hit the surface. We’ll deploy one drone along the Caldera de Taburiente and the second lower down in the National Park.’

  ‘Where do we fit in?’ whispered Ros to Simon.

  He didn’t have to wait long to get an answer to his question.

  ‘Mark and I will take charge of the monitoring teams for the two target areas. Our expert drone operators and data technicians will be shared out. Given your local knowledge, Simon and Maria will work with me and Ros and Claudine will help Mark. What we’re looking for above anything else are thermal signatures that may be precursors to a vent developing. Given our recent experiences in Iceland, if we manage to locate an area displaying a rise in surface temperature, we can try to predict subsequent levels of potential activity. The ORM Director and his staff will manage the communications from here and will deal with the Guardia Civil. I expect that Carmen and her team will arrive sometime tomorrow, so we’ll have enough bandwidth to cover most circumstances.’

  ‘Sounds like a plan,’ said Ros aloud.

  The drones were assembled and ready to fly within two hours. Ros, who helped unpack the boxes, was fascinated. He had seen small camera drones before but nothing as big as the industrial sized flying instruments that were constructed before his eyes. Damian would be so jealous. These machines dwarfed his toys.

  The technicians had their consoles and PCs set up on the ORM’s boardroom table. From there, now that the clouds had burned away, they had a panoramic view across the entire Caldera de Taburiente and down to the base of the National Park. The GPS systems were calibrated and synchronised with a NASA satellite that had been made available. Mark’s influence clearly went way beyond procuring military helicopters.

  Later on, Mark assembled his team at the window that probably offered one of the best views of mountain scenery in the world.

  ‘Listen up. Based on the data we have to hand I’m expecting a s
ignificant increase in low level seismic activity at shallow depths. We need to know what to look for. A magnitude 4 earthquake could rupture about a square kilometre of the fault surface area. If we experience a Richter 6 event, I would expect the entire central part of the island to be affected. If there is a magnitude 8 quake we don’t want to be here as this place will vanish: the mountain will slide towards the northern coast at great speed and with catastrophic impact. The network of seismic and sulphur dioxide monitors across the island will give us one layer of data, however crude. These drones should help us get more comprehensive data and a lot faster. As Franco told you, our top priority is to get an initial thermal ground image map of the target zones.

  ‘What sort of timescale are we talking about?’ enquired Ros as he paused from taking notes – ever the eager student.

  ‘Good question, but one where I can’t give an answer at this stage. We’ll know much more when we get the first set of thermal images from the drones. Normally, seismic activity would increase gradually and spread. But I fear this is not a normal situation. We’ll introduce a rising colour code alert. I will call in military support if we get to amber. The Sikorsky will stay on station. It will provide us with secure communications to the air force base on the island of Tenerife.’

  ‘I suggest we start at the location where Maria and Claudine had their off-the-ground experience,’ said Simon.

  ‘Good idea. Talk to the drone team and set up the coordinates. You and Maria should try and spot any unusual features as the drone flies over the area in a grid format.’

  They wasted no time getting to the drone teams.

  Simon approached the drone operator he was to work with.

  ‘What do you call it?’

  ‘PD1’

  ‘PD1?’

  I got the naming rights on this magnificent piece of equipment – my name is Pedro Dunato. My influence is such that the call sign for the other drone is ‘PD2’. In our line of business there are few perks other than having the right to give our toys an identifier.’

  ‘Where have you used your drones before?’ asked Simon.

  ‘Iceland, or Eyjafjallajokull to be more precise. This was the volcano that closed most of Europe’s air space in April 2010 with 95,000 flights cancelled. We were able to track and anticipate lava flows using the thermal image cameras and to test the composition of the ash clouds. It was far too dangerous for volcanologists or helicopters to get close to the action. An early version of PD1 did the business. The poor thing got singed a bit but that’s part of the job. We have also deployed more recently at Nyiragongo in DR Congo and Rincon de la Veija in Costa Rica. We learned an awful lot from these major events. Let’s hope the adjustments and additions we made to the kit will be put to good use here.’

  Half an hour later PD1 was ready to start its first run along a line of ten kilometres across the northern rim of the Caldera de Taburiente and down the centre of the Ruta to the first target area close to Refugio El Pilar.

  Qooqqup Kuua River

  While Lars was trying to cope with the loss of the Twin Otter and all on board, the other teams were unaware of the disaster. He had restricted the two-way communications with the plane to the small team at the Summit Station. As a result, they got on with their appointed tasks.

  The team at site ZX1 successfully deployed two hundred golf balls and four camera golf balls as planned. The drone hovered overhead and relayed images back to the Summit Station control room of a landscape that appeared to be solid on the surface apart from two distinct lines of zigzag fracture. As the Norwegians wanted their machines returned undamaged, the operator guided the drone to return to the Summit Station, which it did without incident. Phil Teahon felt he had done something worthwhile and important.

  The second Humvee team at site ZX2 had a similar positive experience jettisoning two hundred golf balls, along with four camera companions, into a vast crater-shaped structure. It was supplied with ice-melt from several nearby lakes. It was a good call not to require the ski-cat to travel the full distance as the images sent back showed regular but shallow depressions – most filled with slushy ice-water – over the entire terrain. Everywhere was wet. The ZX2 team didn’t dawdle at the site. As soon as they got the signal from Lars they plotted their return journey to the Summit Station.

  The site ZX4 team had visited their chosen location several times over the past three months and their drop and delivery was routine by comparison. While there were some slushy sections, these were not a problem.

  As the teams started to report on their experiences they were told by Lars over their radios of the fate of Alice and her colleagues. They were all visibly shocked and upset. Phil sobbed as his chest tensed up. He had grown quite fond of Alice and enjoyed her sparkling company and her perennial inquisitiveness. Now she was gone. Nobody had imagined that there were serious risks attached to dropping golf balls into crevasses. Were these deaths worth it? he asked himself.

  Lars brought the teams together after they all returned to the Summit Camp. He knew they were grieving for lost friends and colleagues.

  ‘There is nothing we can do. Even if I judged there was a prospect of retrieving the bodies from under the ice sheet, it is far too risky. The surface at the crash site is, in effect, a large ice pool. We should pay our respects to our friends.’

  He said a few prayers and once finished Sean concluded with an old Irish lament sung in a low baritone voice.

  Lars gave everyone time to reflect. As they were scientists, they knew they had to finish the task at hand. Like the companions of soldiers who fell in the trenches, those who survived continued to follow orders and get the job done. They reconvened later that evening to review progress.

  ‘How are my golf balls progressing at the other locations?’ asked Sean.

  Everyone’s attention turned to the bank of computers that was tracking the golf balls at the different sites.

  ‘What’s the data telling us?’ said Benny.

  ‘We deployed all the golf balls more-or-less at the same time, as planned. Their progress is quite astonishing. See here,’ replied Lars.

  An operator pointed to the screen and to the small red dots that represented each golf ball. Quite a few were stationery, suggesting they had been grounded as they progressed beneath the ice sheet. While the tracks of the vast majority moved slowly on the screen in the meltwater, the pace of quite a number was quite different.

  ‘It seems, as I suspected would happen, that a few golf balls got stranded in isolated pools. But all appear to be sending back signals.’

  ‘They sure are. Look at the feedback from the other sites.’

  Over the coming hours the teams saw hundreds of tracks descend down hitherto undiscovered underground rivers, moulins and channels. In most locations the ice-melt flow rate was higher than had been previously measured. While many golf balls got lodged in cracks or ice hollows, most were moving. The slow track of some golf balls suggested they were floating on sub-glacial lakes, moving towards the next descending channel. These lakes had never been mapped before. The existence of so many deep sinkholes, drove the golf balls deep into the bowels of the ice sheet. As the dropping zones were spaced quite a bit apart there didn’t appear to be any interconnections, at least so far, between the rivers, rivulets and sub-glacial lakes.

  ‘Have the cameras worked?’ Sean asked.

  ‘They sure have. All are transmitting. Look at the cameras dropped at site ZX2. One has just tumbled down a sinkhole and the infrared picture shows the ceiling of a large cavern as it has slowed down. This must be a big lake. How big, we can only guess. This is the first evidence that the ice sheet has hollowed out.

  Another operator tried to get everyone’s attention.

  ‘I’ve produced a preliminary 3D map of the five sites we’re looking at.’

  Despite the fatal incident, Lars had instructed everyone to acti
vely monitor the location where Alice and her colleagues had died.

  ‘You can see the track of ice-melt flow twisting and turning as the golf balls continued their descent through the glacier. At site ZX3, the golf balls descended almost two thousand metres in little under six hours,’ said the operator.

  ‘Amazing,’ acknowledged Lars.

  ‘At site ZX1, the golf balls are moving at an average speed of between twenty-five and thirty kilometres an hour in an east-north-east direction. More interesting, is the slope of the underground rivers. As the gradient falls the water speed increases. See the cluster that Alice deployed? They have just veered off down another almost perpendicular vent: a drop of over two hundred metres. While some were dispersed and are stationary, the majority are moving to an exit at the coast that will soon be revealed,’ said the operator.

  ‘What does this mean?’ asked Benny.

  ‘My guess is that the aquifers beneath the glacier are deeper and longer than we thought, and certainly interconnected in some way. The ice-melt is certainly carving away the innards of the ice sheet. It appears there are sub-glacial lakes feeding into lower channels. It is too soon to say for definite, but I would not be surprised if this load didn’t make an appearance at the source of the Qooqqup Kuua River.’

  The operator switched to the PC monitoring the other sites. The trend was the same. On entry into the crevasses the vast majority of the golf balls had plunged into the Greenland Ice Sheet through a series of deep drops as they moved across pools where fast currents seemed persistent.

  ‘The group of golf balls dropped at site ZX2 are now almost stationary having reached a level of three hundred metres below the surface in under two hours. They are all drifting at two kilometres an hour in a north-westerly direction. Perhaps they are resting on a sub-glacial lake awaiting a further plunge into the bedrock that lies below?’