Delighted to have been award First Prize for the Earth Science and Climatology category for the Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2024. It is with great pleasure that I enter the Royal Photographic Society and I look forward to contributing with my experience as a photographer and learning from my colleagues. The photo depicts a supraglacial melting lake over the Greenlandic ice sheet, ranging from some meters to several kilometres wide. Increasing in numbers due to climate change, they can suddenly drain if a crack in the ice appears, hydrofracturing, collecting water at the bottom of the lubricating the glacier and speeding its flow towards the ocean. Greenland’s ice sheet is the second largest ice mass in our planet, and its melting would raise the sea level approximately 7 meters.Taken during a flight from Kangerlussuaq to Ilulissat, when a small window of light appeared, it was singular due to hundreds of small aquamarine structures formed by melting and thawing process. Although some clouds cast shadows over the lake, I was elated to have captured the image.
