Bucket List Biggie – Lilliehöökbreen

A Zodiac trip to the glacier face

What a great morning – natural beauty and Polar Bears! But, our day wasn’t over. Just across Krossfjord was Lilliehöökbreen, another gorgeous place, and we spent the late afternoon exploring it.  That included lots of photos.

Cell phone pictures? Really? Oh, well.

Map: Google Maps

About about 16 miles long and three miles wide, Krossfjord has several branches and shares its entrance with Kongsfjord. That semi-circular bay at the top of the map on the right is Lilliehöökbreen. Fjotende Julibukta is to the southeast.

From the ship, before we departed for our afternoon activities, we saw a pod of Beluga Whales swimming near the mouth of the fjord and by a sea cave. 

Last year, I blogged about Belugas when writing about our trip to Alaska. So, instead of repeating an overview, I will direct you to that installation here.

Beluga Whales in the distance

By the end of our tour, we had seen Belugas in several locations. In fact, the crew said it was the most they had ever seen in one trip. Most were fairly far away and very tricky to photograph. That’s because the have no dorsal fins, they seldom fluke down and the stay mainly below the surface with just their white backs surfacing. Still, it is really cool to see them.

At least five Belugas, plus some Thick-Billed Murres

We spent the afternoon in our Zodiacs skimming along the face of Lilliehöökbreen, the largest glacier in the area. 

You can see ice in the water as we approach the glacier

With a four-mile-wide semi-circular glacial front, Lilliehöökbreen was by far the most active glacier we saw on the trip. 

This glacier spawned a lot of brash

The area around it was filled with icebergs, bergies and brash and, with the gorgeous arctic sunshine, looked like a fairy wonderland.

Lilliehöökbreen

We saw less activity in these glaciers than what I have seen in Alaska, most likely because: these glaciers tend to be on a less steep slope and therefore have less pressure; and, it was still early in the season (although June), so there had not yet been much melting. 

The warm temperatures we were experiencing on our trip were probably speeding up glacial melting and calving.

While we were there, we saw a huge calving event – from the other side of the glacier. Possibly a Karmic response to my extraordinary position for Polar Bear photos, this time we were as far away from the action as possible. 

The serene side of the glacier we were visiting

A couple of our ship’s Zodiacs caught the huge piece of ice peeling off from right in front of it. We saw it from at least a mile away. Luckily, it wasn’t big enough to swamp their Zodiac.

You can see a huge chunk falling off

Lilliehöökbreen has a history of massive ice loss. Albert I of Monaco (the guy who named Fjortende Julibukta and Julibreen) photographed the glacier in 1906, and his great-grandson Duke Albert II did the same in 2006. During that interval, Lilliehöökbreen lost about 40 percent of its total ice volume, with an accelerating tendency in recent years.

Lilliehöökbreen

The glacier is named after the Swedish commander Gustaf Bertil Lilliehöök, who in 1861 participated in a Swedish expedition to Spitsbergen led by Otto Torell.

Even though we missed up-close excitement, this place was one of my favorites. It was just stunningly beautiful.

Glacier face

Wildlife

Floating near us were all kinds of seabirds …

Arctic Tern, Black Guillemot, Northern Fulmar, Black-legged Kittiwake

… a clutch of Northern Fulmars engaging in an animated conversation …

What is going on here?

… plus some that were calmly floating …

A close-up view where you can see the Fulmar's salt-removing nose tubes

... some that were taking an ice bath ...

A really chilly dip

... and some that just needed to stretch their wings …

Fulmar looking a bit goofy, especially with those big feet

They certainly weren’t intimidated by us …

Fulmars often fly very close by

There were Black Guillemots swimming close to the Zodiac in the clear, turquoise water …

A curious Black Guillemot floating close

… giving us a better look at their pretty red feet …

Bright red tootsies

We saw Arctic Terns resting …

Bergies are a favorite perch

… preening …

Preening includes spreading oil on feathers to increase buoyancy

… bathing …

A quick dunk

… and swooping in on their angel wings …

A graceful landing

They are so beautiful …

Arriving at a perch

Perhaps picking up on the calming vibe of the icy bay, the Black-legged Kittiwakes seemed so much more serene than their nesting cousins ...

Beautiful against all the colors of the ice

… some were perched on ice bergies …

Kittiwakes also favor bergie perches

… some were floating on the silky, aqua water …

A great reflection in a beautiful place

… and a few were flying along the mountains …

An illustration of the vastness of Lilliehöökbreen

There were a few, but not many, Thick-billed Murres ...

Swimming Thick-billed Murres

But, no Atlantic Puffins. I guess they were all too busy back at the breeding grounds.

And in the air, we saw a Parasitic Jaeger and some Black-legged Kittiwakes working through some kind of conflict …

The Jaeger was probably trying to steal food

On a distant hillside, we also saw a couple more Svalbard Reindeer grazing on the sparse tundra plants ...

Svalbard Reindeer

Ice
Svalbard has 183 glaciers and eight ice caps. More than 60 percent of its land surface is covered by ice. And, much of its sea surface is filled with the various grades of ice calved from glaciers.

A sea full of ice

Ice calving, also known as glacier calving or iceberg calving, is the sudden release and breaking away of a mass of ice from a glacier, iceberg, ice front, ice shelf or crevasse. A form of ice ablation or ice disruption, calving is normally caused by the glacier expanding. The ice that breaks away can be classified as an iceberg, but may also be a growler or bergie bit. When the water is filled, the collective ice debris is called brash.

Brash; see the heart shaped hole?

A small iceberg less than 6.6 feet across that floats with less than 3.3 feet showing above water is called a growler and is smaller than a bergie bit, which is usually less than 15 feet in size. Both are generally spawned from disintegrating icebergs.

Iceberg

Ice bergie

When we were floating around Lilliehöökbreen, there was a significant amount of "Bergie Seltzer,” a fizzing and popping sound that occurs when the melting ice release air bubbles into the water. 

The bay was filled with sights and sounds

The bubbles contain air trapped in snow layers very early in the history of the ice, that eventually got buried to a given depth and pressurized. You can see the bubbles in some of the floating bits.

Interesting surface patterns

Icebergs are generally white because they are covered in snow, but can be green, blue, yellow, black, striped or even rainbow colors. 

Seawater, algae and lack of air bubbles in the ice can create diverse colors. The ice sometimes gets interesting patterns, caused by melting or scraping. 

This ice bergie at the right resembles hammered metal.

Winds and currents tend to move icebergs close to coastlines, where they can become frozen into pack ice or drift into shallow waters, where they can come into contact with the seabed, a phenomenon called seabed gouging.

A big calving event

Calving of glaciers is often accompanied by a loud cracking or booming sound. The blocks that fall off can be small rubble up chunks the size of multi-story buildings. The entry of the ice into the water causes large, and often hazardous, waves.

We were never near enough to a calving event at Lilliehöökbreen to even feel a tremor.

The glorious weather made the trip to Lilliehöökbreen a wonderful ending to a fantastic day.

I continue to be amazed at the variety of experiences in Svalbard from weather to ice to animals to scenery. An incredible place!

Scott and me enjoying the ride

Yes, this post has lots of photos.

Beautiful Lilliehöökbreen

You're welcome!

Trip date: June 15-July 4, 2019