ERIC CHENG · Jun 8, 2025

Otherworldly Iceberg near Ilulissat, Greenland, May 2025. This huge iceberg was an absolute gem of otherworldly colors. There were two researchers from NYU at a research station on the edge of this ice wall near Ilulissat, Greenland, and they told us that it had calved just 3 hours before we arrived--it was the largest calving event they had seen in 10 years of coming to Greenland. Before disappearing into their pods for "Mexican night" (burritos!), they described a huge green "pyramid" extending up from the ice before it rolled over and settled into the deep blues and milky turquoise/greens we see in this video. The researchers mentioned that they almost missed capturing this calving event because their generator and solar setup didn't give them power all the time. I asked whether they had a camera capable of pre-roll (recording before a trigger is sent to the camera), and they said they had a grant request recently denied by NSF for such a system, which would use a known seismic reading to trigger a camera with pre-roll. This is all so basic--it's sad that they struggle to get systems like this in place. This footage was shot using a DJI Mavic 4 Pro (currently unavailable in the USA due to the tariff situation). I flew 6km out from the research station (in coordination with our helicopters) to reach it and never had any issues with signal. The battery is rated for 51 minutes of flight time; practically, I flew ~35-40 minutes per battery, but I think it is because I was flying at full speed in Sport Mode for much of it. I found that throttling down from 23 m/s (51 MPH) to 19 m/s (43 MPH) added an estimated 30% to flight time; it would take me 20% longer to fly the same distance, so it seemed worth the tradeoff. --- A massive, freshly calved blue iceberg dominates the icy waters near Ilulissat, Greenland, showcasing deep azure hues and fractured edges under an overcast sky. [AI]