By Simon Bélanger, Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), Québec, Canada
What an extraordinary feeling it is to witness the beauty of these icy landscapes, where the ice sheet flows down to the sea through fjords with steep, towering walls—watching, in real time, as the ice sculpts this raw, mineral landscape… Breathtaking!
Into the Unknown
We all know that Greenland’s glaciers are melting fast in response to global warming. But how that meltwater changes the surrounding ocean is still largely unknown, since field observations here are scarce and sailing among sea ice and icebergs is challenging and costly. From August 6 to September 3, 2026, I had the rare opportunity to join the CASCADES (a ‘thematic’ name, not an acronym) expedition, sailing more than 3,000 nautical miles (5,500 kilometers) to reach the Robeson Channel. This body of water runs between Ellesmere Island and Greenland at 82°N, where cold water and sea ice flow south out of the Arctic Ocean. Along the way, we collected oceanographic measurements in fjords and near settlements with names as striking as the landscapes themselves—Ilulissat (Jakobshavn), Uummannaq, Kullorsuaq, Petermann, and Qaanaaq (Thule)—places where ocean, ice, and meltwater interact.
Path to the Sea
As an ocean-color remote-sensing specialist, my job on board was to measure how sunlight interacts with the water and its constituents—the same frequency of light (wavelength) NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite measures from space—and to collect water samples to identify the tiny drifting algae, or phytoplankton, and non-living suspended matter that give the ocean its colorful aspect. These measurements will help validate what PACE measures from orbit. But CASCADES is much bigger than my own work: it is an international (Canada, Switzerland, France, and Greenland), multidisciplinary expedition bringing together glaciologists measuring ice thickness, marine-mammal observers, microbiologists, geologists, and biogeochemists. Together, we are trying to understand how carbon and nutrients move from the ocean’s surface to the deep sea, and how glacier meltwater changes that journey.
Ops and Opportunity
No two days aboard the CCGS Amundsen were alike. Our operations ranged from water sampling with a CTD rosette (an instrument that measures temperature, salinity, and depth), to catching zooplankton and fish with nets, to pulling up surface sediments and six-meter-long sediment cores that let us reconstruct the history of these fjords. And, of course, I had my own work: measuring how light travels through the water column at different wavelengths across the visible spectrum and taking water color spectra at the surface. These water color spectra tell us about the abundance of biological activity and possibly about the composition of the phytoplankton communities that form the base of the marine ecosystems.
International Exploration
The CASCADES expedition is led by Jean-Éric Tremblay of Université Laval, with funding from Amundsen Science, l’Institut Nordique du Québec (INQ), the Swiss Polar Institute (SPI), and the Transforming Climate Action (TCA) initiative. My remote sensing work is supported by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Facts Only
* Expedition dates: August 6 to September 3, 2026.
* Travel distance: More than 3,000 nautical miles (5,500 kilometers).
* Location focus: The Robeson Channel between Ellesmere Island and Greenland at 82°N.
* Expedition name: CASCADES.
* Measurements involved: Oceanographic measurements in fjords and near settlements.
* Author's role: Ocean-color remote-sensing specialist.
* Data collection methods included: CTD rosette sampling, net collection of zooplankton/fish, surface sediment core extraction, and water color spectra measurement.
* Team composition: International group including glaciologists, marine-mammal observers, microbiologists, geologists, and biogeochemists.
* Scientific objective: To understand the movement of carbon and nutrients from the ocean surface to the deep sea and how glacier meltwater alters this journey.
* Data validation goal: Measurements aim to validate data from NASA’s PACE satellite.
Executive Summary
Full Take
The narrative frames a scientific expedition as an act of discovery driven by the immediate, visible impact of climate change on remote environments. The power lies in connecting highly technical remote sensing measurements (light wavelengths) with tangible, real-world processes (phytoplankton blooms and nutrient transport) occurring in stark, beautiful landscapes. The underlying pattern is the attempt to quantify and understand an invisible system—the biogeochemical cycling of meltwater versus deep ocean dynamics. The explicit mention of collecting data to validate satellite observations suggests a tension between macro-scale remote sensing data and micro-scale in-situ physical sampling. The juxtaposition of the epic, visual journey with the granular work of sediment coring creates an appeal rooted in both awe and scientific necessity. The implication for agency is that understanding these physical flows is necessary for effective climate response; however, the narrative relies heavily on establishing the expedition’s credibility through its multidisciplinary scope (Canada, Switzerland, France, Greenland) and institutional backing (CSA, TCA). What is not explicitly addressed is the governance or policy application of this highly specific, localized data in a global context, leaving open the question of how scientific observation translates into necessary systemic action.
Bridge Questions: If the measured changes in phytoplankton communities do not correlate with predicted meltwater inputs, where is the discrepancy originating? How does the logistical and political framework of an international expedition shape the prioritization or interpretation of these multidisciplinary results? What specific policy levers are most directly influenced by understanding the transport dynamics across the Robeson Channel?