Jökull - 01.12.1968, Page 57

3. To study the morphological clianges that
have taken place since 1945 between the
ice margin and the coast.
4. To study the development of the pro-
glacial lakes and to determine the char-
acter of the drainage frorn the lakes.
5. To study the form and character of the
proglacial sediments.
This project was mainly financed bv a re-
search grant from D.S.I.R. (N.E.R.C.). Other
grants were received from the Court of the
University of Glasgow, the Carnegie Trust for
the Universities of Scotland, the Royal Geo-
graphical Society and the Gino Watkins Me-
morial Fund. These funds were largely devot-
ed to the carrying out of a total of twenty
weeks of fieldwork at Breidamerkurjokull dur-
ing the summers of 1965 and 1966.
With the exception of a study of the char-
acter of the drainage of the proglacial lakes,
all the aims of the project stated in the ap-
plication to D.S.I.R. were fulfilled plus certain
additional pieces of research which emerged as
the project developed.
During March 1965 Welch visited Iceland to
obtain detailed information about the aerial
photographv of the area of study and to visit
Breidamerkurjokull to investigate the pro-
blems relating to the establishment and logi-
stical support of the fielcl camps. During this
visit it transpired that the Icelandic Roads
Department were very interested in Breida-
nterkursandur as it was their intention to build
a bridge over the Jokulsa (Fig. 1), the main
river draining from Breidamerkurjokull. The
building of this bridge required the flying of
new aerial photography and an agreement was
reached whereby the cost of this new aerial
photography, to be taken during the summer
of 1965, should be shared by the Roads De-
partment, the Icelandic Survey Department
and the University of Glasgow Breidamerkur-
jokull project. The fact that new aerial photo-
graphy was to be flown introduced the pos-
sibility of using different types of film during
the flight over the area. Petrie and Welch
negotiated with Huntings Aero Surveys and
hired an R.C.A. 5 aerial camera and purchas-
ed a supply of panchromatic, colour, false
colour and infra red film. The arrangements
for the flight over Breidamerkurjokull were
completed by Welch in co-operation with Mr.
A. Bodvarsson of the Icelandic Survey Depart-
ment.
During May and the early part of June all
preparations for the fieldwork programme to
be carried out in Iceland between June 27th
and August 31st 1965 were completed. The
necessary equipment and supplies were shipp-
ed to Iceland. The main party consisting of
Welch, Howarth and six undergraduate field
assistants flew to Hofn via Reykjavik on June
27th and 28th. All the equipment and person-
nel were then transported by truck from Hofn
to Breidamerkursandur. Two base camps were
established, one at the Breida Hut which was
made available by the Icelandic Glaciological
Society and the other under canvas near the
Great Moraine, two kilometres east of the
Stemma Bridge. These field parties were visit-
ed at various times during the summer by the
author and Mr. B. D. F. Methley.
After several days of reconnaissance, work
began on the ground survey for the establish-
ment of a ground control network for control-
ling the photogrammetric work. A total of 100
man days was spent in obtaining the precise
location and altitude of 50 points. Some of
these points were natural objects such as
distinctive mountain peaks, road junctions or
bridges, and others were cairns built by the
field parties and subsequently marked by large
cloth targets. The computations necessary for
this survey work were carried out in the field
to ensure the accuracy of the control system.
The control system was related to the Ice-
landic national grid system and was the basis
for all the photogrammetric work carried out
subsequently in the laboratory in Glasgow.
Communication between the two field parties
was essential during the period of establishing
the ground control. The two camps were 8
kilometres apart and the route between them
involved the crossing of a large river, the
Jokulsá. This could only be crossed when the
farmer from Kvisker was available to run the
small motor boat used for the crossing. Lack
of good communications led to difficulties in
the early days but the situation was much
improved by the provision of telephones at-
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