James Balog (MGeog’77) photographs Adam Lewinter (MechEngr’06) as he surveys the 150-foot-deep Birthday Canyon carved by meltwater in the Greenland Ice Sheet in June 2009. The black substance is cryoconite made up of silt and soot blown onto the ice sheet from afar. The ice sheet covers 80 percent of Greenland and is the second-largest ice body in the world. In addition to writing seven books, James founded Extreme Ice Survey, the most wide-ranging, ground-based, photographic study of glaciers ever conducted. He is featured in the award-winning documentary Chasing Ice.