Science in the Arctic- The cruise

UNIS Spring semester 2014

The ship crashes through sea ice, its bow parting the surface like a huge knife. Cracks and splinters radiate off from our passage as we push on forward. 

Dicksonfjorden, Svalbard

We come to rest as the ice deepens, thick and solid enough to hold our weight as we stand on it. 

We leave the ship, walking out on the smooth, shining white surface, leaving shallow footprints on frozen waves. The ice here is thirty centimetres thick, the cold sea bottoms out seventy metres below it.

Here we begin our research.

Reading this I realize that it sounds like in the BBC series frozen planet- but it is reality, we actually experienced it. About 1 month ago, Allan, Riba, Esty , I and the other 15 peoples from our Arctic Geophysics course prepared to go into the ice for 5 days. We are students in the Arctic and that is a very special feeling.

After arriving, we leave the safety of the ship and are all alone in the Fjord, apart from some polar foxes and seals. The seals are numerous; we find 60 by just looking around with the binoculars. They are cute and just hang around sun bathing! 

 But our looking around is not just done for fun. At all times two people, one high up on the ship and one far out on the ice, have to watch out for polar bears. When it is your turn, you are prepared for action, equipped with rifle, flare gun & walky-talky to keep the rest of the people safe.

On the ice we make camp, drilling and cutting through the ice, setting the experiments up with the instruments dragged after us on sledges.

We always hear the monotonous sound of the ships engine. Day and night we are running the ship into the ice. The ice has not been thick enough this year to attach the ship with ropes, we are afraid of breaking it.

Lying awake at night I wonder: Isn’t it slightly ironic that we study the environment but at the same time change it? 

But the gathered data is well worth it.

In the evenings we sit together, analysing what we found during the day. Some people help each other writing code or discuss how their experiments could link. Others watch movies.

Ribanna was looking at the salinity and temperature under the ice. I studied the dissolved oxygen. Both data were gathered from our stationary CTD.

Combining our information, we found relatively warm less oxygenated Atlantic water transformed on its way due north, over colder, saltier oxygen rich water originating from an adjacent fjord. It’s like a riddle, or maybe a crime novel to figure out what could have happened with these waters prior to inflowing into our ice covered fjord. Amongst other influences, these water masses decide about the fate of the sea ice…. It might not return next winter.

I love the fact that by using these instruments over some time we suddenly can see things that nobody else can, things hidden under the ice. For 3 days, we take our measurements; over 350 casts of our CTD.

 But we do not stay all the time at our stations. We learn about every aspect of the air-ice-sea interaction. There are three big sections: Meteorology, Oceanography and Sea-ice studies. The Meteorology studying people are looking at incoming and outgoing solar radiation, albedo, wind direction, air temperature and humidity.

Apart from Riba and I, in the oceanography group we have people looking at turbulences at the ice-ocean interface and currents under the ice to explain the water movements.

Deployment of a mooring

The sea-ice studying people conduct growth experiments, depth measurements, brine rejection studies and take many many ice cores.

Because doing science is hard work, we get a lot of food. Living as a student in Longyearbyen is quite expensive and the normal Svalbard student diary consists of pasta, rice and gummy cheese. Maybe frozen spinach.

It is no secret that there is a lot of food on these research vessels but OMG. Every day we have extensive breakfast, ostentatious lunch, and fantastic dinner. 3 times a day buffet with everything! Plus cake and a filled fridge open during the night. It is food heaven.

Probably because of this overwhelming amount of nom noms (that’s the online translation), there is a gym in the hull of the ship. Most entertaining and well recommendable is using the treadmill while at sea.

The ship also has an outdoor Jacuzzi filled with warm salty water.

Sadly our field course ends too fast.

We go back to our “normal” life in Svalbard. And even though the working up of data is time consuming and can be tiring, we always find time to do fun stuff:

 Midnight-sun hikes

snowmobile drives to the glacier-front on the east coast

… oh…. And I would like to share…. They are not a myth, I saw  a polar bear =)

And of course dress up parties

Luci: the best dinosaur

It’s a good life with good people and good science.

Thanks to everybody who made it possible

And thanks to the lovely photographers Ragnheid, Ribanna & Niels

Yours,

Rachel Vezza

A week on the ice

A dark green van came driving up the one road in and out of Nybyen. I was already standing outside with a rucksack on and ready for the day to come when I saw the UNIS logo stamped on the side of the vehicle as it continued driving up the hill. A group of equally prepared colleagues stood ready and zealously greeted me with a nod or a smile accompanied with a “good morning are you ready?” It was the first day of our snow processes fieldwork; we would be travelling to a nearby glacier for a week to gather data about its geophysical characteristics. What makes it move, where is it moving to now and in the future.  More importantly we would be physically out in the landscape that we are attempting to gain a deeper understanding about, instead of it all just being theory.

That’s the good thing about UNIS, be you a visual learning a kinaesthetic learning or an auditory learner, for any case UNIS caters for you. Although pursuing academia likely means you are good at all three, if you want me to read about how a glacier moves then sit me on one. Let me measure it moving and tell me why this is so. UNIS does this, and I believe it’s what makes this place special and effective at training new scientists. This place aims to put students out in the field and to give us the skills and tools to be able to work in a harsh environment.

The weather was cold. Twenty below and feeling colder when a wind blew. Arriving at the logistics garage to be outfitted in scooter gear; boots, suit, goggles, helmet, mittens and an avalanche beacon. By the end it felt as if beyond the garage doors laid the surface of the moon. Student snowmobiles parked ready for us to take into the field. We drove them up and attached sledges to the back of them. Securing a series of scientific instruments that continued this extra-terrestrial impression of the surrounding landscape. Ground penetrating radar and Global navigational satellite system and automatic weather stations.

Not only that but UNIS also provides the professionals that use this equipment, that have written papers thanks to this equipment, that now pass on the knowledge in the hope that some here continue it.

 We dig holes in the snow. Some metres deep. The snow pack can be removed like bricks, which makes life easier; but not much. Sweat becomes your worst enemy, for when it cools it freezes. The hair on my face and head froze in seconds. It’s always hard to thaw out frozen extremities so the trick is keeping warm. This is not easy work it can be exhausting and frustrating when technology fails to work; batteries die much quicker in the cold. We tag team the digging work and when someone doesn’t come out the hole you grab him out. When you are asked to dig you reply with gratitude, “thanks for allowing me to warm up.” We all share in a laugh and take the measurements before we heartbreakingly fill the same hole back in with all the snow we just removed.

Leave nothing but footprints. If you were to disturb the snow then measurements may be jeopardised; such as with radiation sensors. If we were to dig up most of the glacier and leave it like that it would destroy much of the natural beauty and would present a danger for scooter drivers. Science would start to be less effective at getting its messages across.

Jump on the scooters for a quick leg up the hill to where the sun has managed to emerge over the mountain ridge. Some food and stories from the professors help to warm up spirits whilst the hot drinks and a few more layers help to warm your body.

Before you know it the day has ended and just as quickly so has the fieldwork. The sights the work and the people make this a memorable experience worth a few stories.

You can learn all there is to know about UNIS and its goals for future scientists by spending one day out in the field.

-Allan

Hey,
Luci here :D

So whats new...
We are now getting some amazing light here and it makes for beautiful horizons/landscape photos - when we are not over cast or snowing - and there has been some beautiful pictures being taken and I have a few ok ones to contribute:

Figure 1 - Longyearbyen town - the sun is almost making it!!!!

Figure 2 - Student barracks and the sun on the mountains behind

Figure 3 - View across Isfjorden from the bottom of Longyearbyen town

Last weekend I ran another dive course in the pool with Caitlin, another instructor, which went really well and was good fun!!! Although a tad jealous of another group of students who went to the east coast on the snowmobiles and managed to see the mythical beasts (polar bears) which I am yet to encounter! :(

This week has also been great fun as I have had no lectures which means during the day (which is getting brighter and brighter) we can make the most of the daylight and study in the evenings!!! Thus I have been out skiing a few times - however its a fair bit different to the skiing I am used to as they haven't yet built chair lifts in the arctic yet!! That being said it is no less fun - just a lot more hard work!!! Myself and my friend Caitlin on Tuesday hiked up one of the nearby mountains call Trollstein on our Ranndonee skis with skins on (which stop you sliding back down hill)! It was the first time I had used these type of skis and they are pretty awesome! By the time we got to the top - I think it may have taken us longer than most - our legs were a little tired and shaky from the work and using muscles that have not been used in a while, but we still had big smiles on our face and a beautiful view!!! The ski down was great though and it was awesome to be back on the slopes, even if my legs had lost all ability to be controlled by my mind!

Figure 4 - Veiw from Longyearbreen glacier - with the sun

Figure 5 - Skiers Climbing up for the ride!

Then we went out on Wednesday again and this time took my snow mobile up with 2 sets of skis strapped to it and then we pulled two people on skis behind it - kinda like water skiing - which was really fun!! We all went up one of the glaciers behind our barracks and took turns skiing down a slope, Figure 5, and then being picked up by the snow mobile for another go - brill fun!!

Myself and Ribanna have combined some of our fun moments into a short video clip to show the SAMS students how much fun it is up here - you should apply it is really amazing!!! It doesn't show a great deal of our studies side - but believe me that does happen too! I thought it would be nice to attach it on here to so everyone else can see it :D (a couple of the photos are not mine or riba's so thank you Joran for lending them to us :D )

Figure 6 - Video of fun things in Svalbard

Its not the best quality to be able to upload it on here but hopefully its watchable....

https://www.dropbox.com/s/89r2d6st0fmpfjj/UNIS%20SAMS%20movie.wmv

Thats a better copy ^^^^

Also I, as the biology bachelor representative, joined a meeting with the heads of departments to give feed back on the courses etc. and have heard that they are aiming to shape up the Biology courses and make them even more hands on. They are hoping (not certain yet) to offer a almost internship week here in certain courses with respective companies on Svalbard - which I think sounds great and would give students a bit more experience of working environments!

This weekend I have also been out and about on my snow mobile again - although it was not the best visibility as it was snowing most the way there and back but still got some cool pictures of little ice bergs which have made their way on to the beach and a cool frozen waterfall.

Fig 7 - Ice

Fig 8 - More pretty ice blocks

Fig 9 - Frozen water fall with Ribanna and Ida

Thats all for now,
Luci.

Hello from the far north!

Time is running up here. It is March already! Which means we are approaching the time of eternal sunshine! Well, ok, it still takes some time for that, but it is pretty much just around the corner. Soon (8th of March), the sun will face Longyearbyen for the first time this year and already now, it is getting a bit brighter and daylight lasts a bit longer every day. It is amazing how fast it changes and how überexcited we all are getting.
I have seen the sun last saturday for the first time since I am back up here. We made a trip on our scooters (yes, I bought one, too) to Barentsburg. It was quite cloudy in the beginning and we didn't expect to see sunlight or even the sun at all. Just a few hundred meters before we got into town, we made a small detour up a hill and there it was: Bright, yellow-pink-orange, warm (not really), cosy, epic and amazing! You really learn to appreciate the sun when you have to wait for it for so long. Screams of joy followed by half an hour pure silence and lying in the not very strong sunlight was our reaction!

Our way to Barentsburg along the coast of Isfjorden

                                                      First sunshine of the year! Gotta go to Russia for that

 Barentsburg itself is a cute, little, communistic town. In documentations it always looks really sad and depressing. When we've been there (still with pinkish sunlight), we were pretty impressed by the sort-of-modern architecture and also the very old buildings and cars (and a wee cabin saying "Neutron Monitor" whatever they are doing in there).                                        

                                                      Architecture in Barentsburg

                                                                The "Neutron Monitor" in Barentsburg


I also got new skis last week and, being a total newby to this, I will have to find some people that are patient enough to spend their time with me. But I assume they will enjoy watching me falling over and over again and again.
The last three days, tons of snow were coming from the now finally clear sky which means: awesome scooter and ski tracks and high avalanche risk! There are already several small avalanches (no harm to anyone) coming down right behind our barrack and the cornices up the mountain are huuuuuge. So we always take our avalanche kits as soon as we are going on a trip.
As part of the safety group, we are arranging another avalanche rescue training for the students at the moment. Here, we will practice skills like using avalanche beacons, probes and shovels efficiently and how to organise chaos in an avalanche situation. Important stuff!

On Wednesday, we have been to Svalsat as part of the Arctic Environmental Management course. It is the big satellite dish area up Plateaufjellet and it is of great importance worldwide! All weather data that is used all over the globe comes from here. And much more. Svalsat delivers data to their costumers all over the world. The reason it is so far north is that the orbit of a satellite covers the area of reception 14 times a day which decreases towards the equator. So, more data can be downloaded the closer the station is to the pole. About 30 antennas download every sort of information the customers want. This is apparently also in the focus of politics as, according to the Svalbard Treaty, no military use may be made of anything on Svalbard. Quite contradictory every now and then, but so far, they didn't have any severe problems.

Luci and me in front of some gigantic satellite dishes (photo credits: Luci)


Yesterday, I have seen the sun a second time. Just out Adventdalen when we've been out on a field trip to collect reindeer faeces. From these, the carbon/nitrogen ratio can be determined and the quality of their food controlled. This is done in regular intervals to monitor reindeers throughout the winter. It can become difficult for them to find food at all when thawing and freezing periods succeed each other. Ice layers form in the snow which can make it pretty hard to get to the ground.

                                         Reindeers in Adventdalen during our field trip (photo credits:Julie Huseklepp Tunli)

 Measuring how hard it is to get to the ground (a weight is lifted and released until the measuring stick reaches the ground) (photo credits: Julie Huseklepp Tunli)

Some other students have been to the east coast today where they could watch a polar bear with two cubs. WWF is tracking this female and other individuals (4 on Svalbard at the moment): WWF Polar Bear Tracker
Here you can also see what crazy distances some individuals travel. There are much more on Svalbard and in winter, chances are always good to get to see some. So that is on the agenda for the next days/weeks!

Ribanna

And now my watch continues..

                                                         

It is January and I have returned to Svalbard without the sun. It will follow in a few months but for now the land is still dark except from the bright lights of Longyearbyen on the coast connected with Nybyen further in land situated at the base of two glaciers that I know to be there even without the sight of them. The mine that served as Santa’s grotto is still lit up on the hillside. The snow lying on the land is still here reflecting what light we receive and with it completing the brilliant contrast with the darkness of the sky and this creates the breathtakingly fullness of the moon and lights of distant stars. The meeting of recognizable faces as others return and a faint green tinge in the night sky draws a familiar end to my first day back on Svalbard.

This semester I have chosen to study geophysics. Studying the interactions between the air and the ice and the sea, and to study the dynamics of the glaciers present today on Svalbard. Not my strength, in all honesty it was an excuse to stay here longer. There are more hieroglyphs on the chalkboard than on the Rosetta stone during one hour of our lectures. Though it is very interesting when someone with a stronger background in physics asks a question or proposes a correction to be made to the equations by saying a word like epsilon; like that means something. When I see numbers and shapes that make interesting calligraphy, others see a principle, a defining quality of today’s Arctic landscape, a piece of the modellers puzzle in an attempt to understand how the world is changing. They say Van Gogh medically had to have seen the world differently and Beethoven was partially deaf and would have heard his music differently and these are innate senses given to those, others are trained or have developed their own way of perceiving the world around them. It is interesting to look on how other minds have been trained to see and understand this sequence of numbers and shapes and to see a dynamic existence.  I have been given the chance to understand the physical principle about how today’s arctic world functions and possibly how it will change and why recent weather conditions have unveiled. Though difficult I am not alone in my attempt to understand these processes that shape this land that inspires and changes people.

With the new season comes a new terrain, one suitable for a snowmobile or "scooter" as they are referred to here. Purchased before Christmas it has hibernated outside the university since the previous winter. Now however it lies crippled, unable to start it sleeps and waits until healed enough to move. So many scooters that never had the chance to roam again now litter the region and the snow gathers around their carcasses; hollow husks of machines that once dominated the land. The engine got lazy, the dirt collected and had to be cleaned and then with some new spark plugs she breathed again exhaling a smoky mix of petrol and oil. Now my mechanical beast can roam the Arctic tundra once again. The first trip was to Templefjordan where the valley opened up revealing a great mountain with a plateau  top called  Templet. known for its geological stratigraphy, the striped pattern on the mountain side created a lovely picture. The second trip made was to Barentsburg a Russian mining settlement. 

Built during the soviet era, this working coal mining settlement hosts a strange beauty. Much of the old style architecture is still present, some buildings with colourful soviet style murals painted on them depicting the Kremlin. With the icy streets so difficult to move on even the scooters couldn't get a grip, the coal and the dirt covering most of this industrious town and of course the watchful stare of Lenin with the words in Russian "Our Goal Communism" in the background is how I have pictured the Russian people of that era. Strong and independent looking at the world from another viewpoint. I hopefully will visit again to look around more closely at this town from another time and gain further insight into the people that worked there then and work there now. 

Daily adventures and lessons here are a constant, helping to differentiate the day to day more than the rising and setting of the sun; for only now is that becoming a real natural occurrence as the sun is scheduled to hit town on the 8^th March.

I would like to finish this article by also mentioning that a fellow student from SAMS studying alongside myself and other SAMS Arctic students has been hurt during a weekend trip to one of the local cabins. This accident sadly had her taken from Svalbard for further treatment. As I understand she handled herself bravely during the accident and the wait for help. We are all awaiting her return to Svalbard and her refreshing enthusiasm for the work here at UNIS.

-Allan

Hi guys,

Hope your all enjoying being back at SAMS now after Christmas (which seems ages ago) and the the new year - hope you have all had a good one!

So we've now been back here just over 3 weeks which again has flown by - but that is probably because we have been cramming so much into the weeks - hiking, learning, skidooing, eating....and there has been no time to be board.

Figure 1 - Me and my new kitchen buddies hiking up
Sarkofargen with Longyearbyen in the background.

So you heard all about the safety week from Ribanna - which was pretty awesome - hard work and long days - getting up at 6 am everyday was a challenge when the day was still dark all the time... but it was well worth and we learnt sooo much!
The week after that we started our lectures - which for me is both the Biology courses (which I have also been elected to represent in the student council) , AB-204 - Arctic Ecology and populations Biology along with AB-203 Arctic Environment Management. So far

Figure 2 - A three course meal student style.

we have done much more on AB-204 lecture wise - it is quite interesting, lots of modelling for populations. And also managed to meet some of the SAMS lot, Finlo and Collin for Beer and a Burger - which was really nice as we got to catch up on things going on at SAMS!!!
A short course which started last week is the History of Svalbard which i have been taking part in - a two week evening course with a really great lecture makes me actually feel i know a lot more about where i am staying and has been very interesting - including a trip to the little museum here. Another online short course i have also started is part of the University of the Arctic which introduces the circumpolar as a whole - environment, people, industry etc. - I thought I would give it a go whilst its still dark here as i think these short courses are good ways to make links across the Arctic and if i am to continue my studies in another location it maybe useful background knowledge - that and its just interesting.

Figure 3 - Beer and an Burger with Collin and Finlo!!!!!

We also in the second week had some snow scooter training - which was great fun!! initially we learnt a bit of basic maintenance how to check oil/coolant changing the variation belt (that's what the Norwegian name of it might translate too) ; along with how to load and strap a sled for excursions. Then for the fun bit we got to ride around doing turns, speed on the flat, driving with passengers/sleds, going up steep slopes (lots of speed :D) driving on a gradient etc. - all of which was very awesome and along with all the safety lectures on the snow scooters just made me itch to buy one....

Figure 4 - Snowscooter course - wrapped up and ready to go!
 (Photo Mekie Huntmann)

There has been other stuff (even more... so busy) going on too - last weekend was the one of the 1st conferences for the Youth Arctic Coalition http://youtharcticcoalition.org/ which myself and around 9 other students at UNIS. including Ribanna, got involved in. The video conference had a few technical issues as it was their first one however we were able as an active hub (as there was 10 of us) able to discuss given topics in the Arctic and give feed back to the conference. The conference itself was held in Ottawa, Canada but there were hubs in Denmark, Russia, Finland  and various other places and people from around the Arctic Circle. Minor some technical difficulty it was a great weekend to be involved in as it marks the beginning of this organisation and hopefully UNIS members can continue to be involved as it grows.

Figure 5 - Youth Arctic Coalition Conference Day 1 (Photo R. Dittrich)

This coming weekend myself and a friend, Caitlin Frankish -who studies Marine Biology in Southampton, are both doing some dive instructing for some of the locals in Longyearbyen. We have managed to get hold of some pool time so are hoping to get all their pool work done for their PADI open water courses which we maybe able to then complete in May - time dependent. Non the less it will be nice to get back to some teaching - even if its taken a bit to juggle and coordinate!

And the last exciting bit for this week (at least for me) is the purchase of my very own snowmobile!!! Well half of one! Its an old school machine but fingers crossed it will run for a few months and then i can manage to get out and about around Svalbard as there is soooo much to see!!!

That's all for now - sorry about ramming it full of text it's been a busy couple of weeks!!

Hope your all still enjoying!

Luci

Back to the edge of the world

I (Ribanna) arrived back in Longyearbyen on the 8th after spending an entire night at Oslo airport so that the first day consisted of unpacking and sleeping only. All the new students arrived within the next 4 days as of 13th of January there was the mandatory safety course we had to attend for being allowed to stay the spring semester.
Before the course started, I joined an exciting scooter trip to Cole's Bay which is only about one hour away from here (by scooters). Cole's Bay is an old Russian settlement which is abandoned since the 1960's. In the dark, a very creepy place, but quite cool and interesting at the same time. I have never sat on a scooter before and midway between here and Cole's Bay, I was allowed to take over. Such great fun to drive these scooters. The trip itself was also amazing, we had 1-2 quite tense situation when the scooters came very close to the cliff and/or a scooter got stuck in deeper snow, but after getting out of these situation, there was just happiness running through your body ;) We spent the night in an old Russian cabin which was really cozy.
Figure 1: Russian cabin in Cole's Bay (Credits: Maxi Claussen)
                                          
                                           Figure 2: Inside the cabin

                                        Figure 3,4,5: Inside some of the abandoned, Russian buildings


The safety course was pretty exhausting but good fun at the same time. We learned what the risks are being up here in the winter and spring season. This included first aid, glacier rescue, rifle handling, navigation and communication, HSE and administration stuff, emergency camp, sea ice properties and rescue and avalanche rescue.
The first aid course consisted of basic first aid plus what to do in the cold and how to wrap up victims properly to save them from hypothermia. The most entertaining part was probably when we learned how to treat deep, open wounds: For this reason, the lecturers supplied some big pieces of pork in which they injected fake blood und kept it pumping so that we could learn how to detect the open blood vessels and how to stop the bleeding (by stuffing with bandage material).

                                                                Figure 6: Stuffing real pork's fake blood

In the glacier rescue we learned the dangers of glaciers (e.g. moulins and crevasses especially in the dark season with new snow as they might be covered) and how to abseil and rescue victims that might have fallen deep into a crevasse. During the emergency camp lessons, we had to set up an emergeny tent, trip wires and emergency stoves which is necessary if there are severe accidents and you would have to persevere hours or even days until a helicopter would be able to get to you. During the Sea Ice Properties session we learned how to access unknown areas of sea ice and also - probably the part most people might have heard about - how to get out of the freezing water in scooter suits which we actually practised in an ice hole near Longyearbyen. I did both parts, rescue another victim in a survival suit and getting out by myself. The suits suck the water up pretty quickly so that they get really heavy. The only aid you have to pull yourself out of the water are small ice picks. The water was icecold but luckily, the air temperatures were pretty high that day so that we didn't freeze too much.

                                                               Figure 7: The ice blocks cut out for our wee ice hole

                                                    Figure 8: Getting suited up for the rescue

                                                     Figure 9: In the water to rescue a victim

                                                    Figure 10: How to set up a "snow angle" for abseiling into a crevasse

For me, the tensest session, however, was the avalanche rescue. After we learned theoretically how avalanches form and when and where to be most careful, we went outside to practise using beacons and probes to find potential victims in an avalanche and how to dig them out most efficiently. It was the most interesting and exciting thing to do but at the same time, you are aware of the real dangerousness of the situation: Basically you have 10 minutes to find and dig out the victims. We really became aware of how important it is carry a beacon with you all the time.

On saturday we had the final practical exercise which meant that we were sent out to Longyearbreen, a glacier right behind Nybyen, where 4 stations were set up. At each station, we had to run through different scenarios, i.e. scooter mobile or crevasse accidents, emergency camp set-up and avalanche rescue. As it was pretty stormy and windy that day, conditions were very realistic, even though it wasn't too cold. Students that have stayed here last semester were appointed to lead the groups through all week and also this day, leadership was most important.
We managed to have different leaders for each situation, depending on who feels most comfortable about it. I have to admit that it is a hard job to control a group of people in stormy and very stressful conditions. It is hard to keep a clear head and track of what is going on. However, a lot of us were put into these situations so that a lot of people got to know how hard this job is even if you are not necessarily physically working. It is pretty much like keeping young children in check....just add a huge portion of seriousness, yelling and stress.
But still, it is great to learn these things as they make you aware of where you are and even more give you the chance to have enjoyable trips being on the safe side.
After the practical exercise, we were driven back to university to write an exam about the safety course week which was then rewarded with chili con carne and beer for all of us. Today we have had the first day of lectures. I am taking the Biology module "Arctic Environmental Management" which is all about the Svalbard Treaty, politics, environmental issues, pollution etc. The other module I have chosen for this semester is Geophysics "Sea-Ice-Air Interactions" covering all about sea-ice, its formation, its structure, its distribution etc. I already enjoyed the first lectures and can't wait for this semester to start properly.
We will have a cruise and several daytrips, but also privately, I am planning on having another amazing, incredible and unforgettable semester up in the Arctic!