Swedish adventures aka my PhD

We have today off to let our hands and feet recuperate after 3 days of -25C to -30C out in the field, collecting data to be analysed this weekend. Since writing this first sentence I was invited on a quick hike up the local peak (Platåfjellet) to see the sun, so less of a rest day, but totally worth it! A grotty walk up Longyearbreen One guy from our course (Martim) now has a rifle, so on Saturday we attempted a hike up Longyearbreen, the glacier near town, but the windy, white-out conditions meant we soon retreated back to our friends place for hot chocolate instead. Sunday was also pretty grotty and I was full of cold so I stayed wrapped up inside and baked some bread, ready for the days ahead. Chilly drilling on Foxfonna The class was split into 6 groups of 4, I was to be in the girls' group with Emma, Emmy and Ranveig. In these groups we rotated activities on 2 contrasting glaciers, Foxfonna and Dronbreen, each group having a go at ice drilling and sample c...

I feel I've now had the proper Svalbard experience after a very exciting trip to Tunabreen glacier last Friday. After a week filled with lectures and computer work we headed back out into the field, this time setting out to see the glacier Tunabreen; this is a calving glacier, so forms a large ice cliff at its snout where blocks of ice are calving off into the sea. All 26 of us piled on the snowmobile gear ready for a 2.5 hr drive in temperatures of -23C. I tried out driving again but quickly had to swap with Martim as my fingers lost all sensation; I'm much better suited to the passenger position. After a few stops to adjust clothing and make sure everyone's noses were covered to avoid frostbite, we made it to the sea. Luckily for us there was at least 30 cm of sea ice up to Tunabreen's calving front so we could proceed over Tempelfjorden to view the impressive glacier from prime position, in front of the ice cliff. As we drove across the ice, we could sea...

Glacier cave: Glaciology at its finest. My new home for the next month. A lot has happened since my last post over in snowy Sweden, I've moved to a place where cars have been replaces by snowmobiles, -5°C seems like a tropical memory, a stroll in the countryside requires a rifle and flare gun and the sky is more frequently lit with green than a sunny yellow. If you hadn't already figured, I'm currently living in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. I'll be here until 10th March for a Glaciology course at UNIS (the University here). Throughout my 5 week stay I'll be learning about glacier dynamics through lectures and snowmobiling out to numerous glaciers across the island. Welcome to Svalbard, stuffed polar bears are found all over town. My Svalbard adventure began with a slightly bumpy start, involving a mini tour of Norway, which resulted in me missing the first day of the course. On the morning of my departure from Sweden (3rd Feb) I awoke at 5am to over a ...