Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine September 2016 | Page 23

Explore | Masterclass

21

MASTERCLASS

The Extreme Ice Survey
James Balog
For 35 years, awardwinning photographer
James Balog has broken
new conceptual and
artistic ground on one of
the most important issues
of our era: climate change.
Founder of the Earth
Vision Institute, Balog and
his Extreme Ice Survey
team feature in the
Emmy-award-winning
documentary Chasing Ice.
He is the author of eight
books, including ICE:
Portraits of Vanishing
Glaciers. His work
has been exhibited in
museums and galleries
worldwide.
www.jamesbalog.com

Founded in 2007 by James Balog,
the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) –
a programme of the Earth Vision
Institute (EVI) – is an innovative,
long-term photography programme
that integrates art and science to give
a ‘visual voice’ to the planet’s
changing ecosystems.

developed since have only reinforced our commitment.
In 2014, we installed 18 cameras in Antarctica and on
the island of South Georgia. We now have 43 cameras
on glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, Canada,
Austria, Nepal, Alaska and the Rocky Mountains of the
US. We supplement our time-lapse record with episodic
repeat photography in the Swiss Alps, Canada, Iceland,
Nepal and Bolivia. Our cameras record changes in the
glaciers every half hour of daylight year round, yielding
approximately 8,500 frames per camera per year. We
edit the time-lapse images into stunning videos that
reveal how fast climate change is transforming large
regions of the planet.

We believe that the creative integration of art and
science can shape public perception and inspire action
more effectively than either field alone. Over eight
years we have positioned 43 cameras on 24 glaciers,
and the time-lapse images we retrieve annually
continue to demonstrate dramatic and alarming
changes due to a warming climate. EIS gained
worldwide fame in 2012 with the release of the
award-winning documentary Chasing Ice, which opened
the world’s eyes to rapidly melting glaciers and climate
change. The global following and partnerships we’ve

EIS is very much a team effort – the project involves
close collaboration among Balog, EIS manager and
multimedia producer Matthew Kennedy, and many
experts in glaciology and atmospheric science, all
devoted to documenting the changes transforming
Arctic and Alpine landscapes today. EIS celebrates the
otherworldly beauty of ice-cloaked landscapes while
providing scientists with crucial data on the speed and
extent of glacial retreat. www.earthvisioninstitute.org

An EIS team member surveys Birthday Canyon,
which is approximately 45m deep. The black deposit
in the bottom of the melt-water channel is cryoco nite,
a gritty deposit comprised of silt and soot blown
from afar mixed with bacteria that actually live
in the ice sheet.

Seorang anggota tim EIS mengamati Birthday
Canyon, dengan kedalaman kurang lebih 45 meter.
Endapan hitam di bawah jalur lelehan es ini adalah
cryoconite, endapan seperti pasir yang mengandung
jelaga hitam halus yang terbawa angin dari jauh dan
bercampur dengan bakteri yang hidup di lapisan es.

Selama 35 tahun,
fotografer peraih
penghargaan, James Balog,
telah menciptakan dasar
konseptual dan artistik
baru pada salah satu isu
paling penting saat ini,
yakni perubahan iklim.
Balog, pendiri Earth Vision
Institute, dan timnya
Extreme Ice Survey
ditampilkan dalam film
dokumenter pemenang
penghargaan Emmy,
Chasing Ice. Ia juga menulis
delapan buku, termasuk
ICE: Portraits of Vanishing
Glaciers, dan karyanya
telah dipamerkan di
museum dan galeri
di seluruh dunia.

Birthday Canyon