No fancy fieldwork pictures this time. Instead an update of the type “shit happens”. I’ve been waiting for something like that to happen for many years, doing all sorts of risky stuff. Now I finally managed and of course it didn’t happen while doing crazy… Read More »And then the helicopter came – the accident
Another day out in the field. Driving snowmobiles to map the volume of an icing. That’s an area infront of a glacier, where water comes out and freezes over. In our case we ended up with driving through slush and walking the radar in places… Read More »Another fieldday – mapping icings and caving
Out and about. Getting glaciology students to do radar mapping on a snow covered glacier. Looking for changes resulting from climatic warming during winter and traces of the recent rain event in the snow. Mapping with snowmobiles feels a bit too easy though. No skis,… Read More »Glacier mapping
What’s the best way to spend a sunny Sunday? Going underground and crawling in the dirt of course! What else? I managed to get back into a cave system, which I started to work with in 2015. Things have changed a lot since then. Back… Read More »Sunday is caving day
Friday: Global climate strike in Longyearbyen. Saturday: Never ending lines of scooters driving in and out of town. Not to forget the coal power plant running continuously to provide the town with electricity and heat. This place, which is among the most climate change exposed places… Read More »The contradictions of Longyearbyen
Finally managed to get out after 1.5 weeks of waiting. Too warm weather, around +5°C, with rain in the high Arctic has prevented getting out there in the past days. Now it finally got cold again, temperatures around -25°C (below -30°C with windchill). Two nice… Read More »The rain is finally over
Another day of heavy rain on Wednesday resulting in big ponds all over town. I’m used to those lovely ice water soaked pants, boots, socks and feet from summer fieldwork, but it’s always a nice variation to get them during the coldest winter months. Particularly… Read More »More rain again
The high Arctic is freezing cold with February/March being the coldest months on Svalbard. So you better bring a lot of wool and warm clothing and most important don’t forget your rain gear. Yeah, you read that right: It’s raining in the coldest months and… Read More »Rain in the Arctic in winter
Snowy mountains pointing out of the clouds that hide what is happening below. It’s great to be back up in the high Arctic after five months of abstinence from the excitement of field based research. Now it’s time for abstinence from desk-based proposal writing and… Read More »New year – new Svalbard adventures
Norwegian fjords never disappoint, especially when the light comes back in early spring.