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Greenland, July 2008. Birthday Canyon 150 feet deep. Black deposit in river is cryoconite. "Meltwater has carved a canyon 150 feet deep. "--NGM, June 2010 © James Balog

For anyone who has not heard about Jim’s passion photographing the Extreme Ice Survey project, please give it a gander. It’s a great example of the type of creativity and ingenuity that still allows you to set yourself apart from the pack. This image was captured while shooting a recent National Geographic assignment referred to as the “melt zone”, places on the ice sheet where melt lakes are forming on the surface and then draining via channels and moulins.

Jim explains a bit more about this particular image:  “Cryoconite is a powdery soot that is spread evenly all across the surface of the ice. The soot comes from slash and burn deforestation in the tropics and developing world, coal-fired power plants and diesel exhaust. This widely dispersed sediment absorbs the sun’s heat, increasing the melt.”

To see more stock photography by James Balog, visit Aurora Photos.

To see James’ assignment portfolio, visit Aurora Select.