Study in Svalbard: BELOW ZERO

The sun lights only the tops of the surrounding mountains.

This week marked the transition to sub-zero temperatures. Two weeks ago the average was about 6 C, last week was about 3 C (this week began with that temperature), and now the average is about -7 C. Anders helps us choose our layers every morning with a mini weather report; temperature, wind and sky condition. The boys are still using their bikes, but that will end soon with the accumulation of snow. An inch of snow fell last night and is now whipping around town.

Anders speeds off to school.

A Svalbard reindeer skin hangs to dry at a residence.

Candles are lit every day to warm the livingroom.

The low morning sun highlights the cliffs.

The timetable for Norwegian class changed this week, now Monday, Tuesday, and Fridays. Class has been good and starting to get a bit more challenging. Tuesday there was a fire drill and the entire school had to stand outside for about 20 minutes. Jason and Anders made sure they didn’t acknowledge us… adolescence is upon us!

Cliffs across Isfjorden and huts from the airport.

The work week was very productive, starting with us installing the bioluminescence sensor in off the harbor docks. It will be measuring the light flashes of zooplankton in the fjord every 1/60 of a second through mid-December. We are trying to obtain a record of the transition of bioluminescence from the light to 24 hours of darkness. They have shown this response to light in the laboratory, but not in a natural setting. We just got an article published on one of the first observations of this during the polar night (click here), and are following up the physiological and ecological implications. More on this later… The sensor we installed is attached to a pole 3 meters below the surface connected to a computer, with power available on the dock. The computer is inside a cargo box and we think it should be fine through the winter. The effort took a lot longer that first anticipated, so I scrubbed the REMUS mission also planned for that day.

The bioluminescence instrument being installed on the docks. The pipe under the red cargo strap holds the instrument, while the logging computer is in the aluminium box in front of me.

From Wednesday to Friday, I hosted a couple of colleagues from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU’s) Applied Underwater Robotics Laboratory in Trondheim. We spent the time discussing robotics applications and the process of integrating these platforms into an educational setting. For example, examining the level of involvement Masters students would have versus PhD students. They are acquiring some new systems and asked a number of questions about my background. We also discussed the general application of underwater systems in the Arctic with respect to natural resource assessment. The Norwegian government is understandably interested in the Arctic, but as for polar systems in general, comparatively very little is known as sustained observations are challenging.

Colleagues from NTNU meet with me at UNIS.

Before our meetings on Thursday, we deployed the REMUS for a long mission (50+ km) around the mooring, across Isfjorden, and back. The route was based on earlier discussions with a physical oceanographer at UNIS to look at the heat content of the North Atlantic Water entering Isfjorden. He is examining the impact of this warmer water on the formation of ice in the local area. The traditional approach has been to use a ship to get vertical casts of the water at a number of set stations. The advantage of the REMUS is that it produces these vertical descriptions of the water every 300-400 m, thus providing the heat content in much higher resolution for analysis. After deploying the REMUS, of course the ship in the harbor decided to leave and crossed right over the path of the vehicle. The REMUS however was about 20 meters below the hull of the ship, so only a close call. We then went back to UNIS and continued our meetings while we monitored the vehicle via satellite when it surfaced every 50 minutes or so. The mission went well and it was a good demonstration of the capabilities. About 8 hours later, we got back on the water and retrieved it. The sun is setting at about 4:30 PM now, right at the opening of Isfjorden. As that is around the corner from Longyearbyen, I had not seen the sun go down for some time. It was great to see the direct sun even for a few minutes.

Paul Renard helps launch the REMUS in Adventfjorden.

Trying to keep in good spirits as a cargo ship runs over the REMUS!

Seeing the direct sunlight was awesome!

NTNU collegues after the getting the REMUS back in the boat.

The Lenin bust at Kroa restaurant.

After the REMUS retrieval and return to UNIS, I left for basketball for a couple of hours. Nicole and I were then treated to dinner at Kroa to end the evening. Friday we wrapped up the meetings and then went on a small hike up Sukkertoppen overlooking Longyearbyen. It was a beautiful day with no clouds and no wind. It was cold, but we rapidly heated up from the climb. When we got to the top, the sun shone in our faces and because there was no wind, I could just sense a hint of heat on my skin. Direct light from the sun no longer hits Longyearbyen, but lights the tops of the surrounding mountains. We could only stay for a few minutes as I had to get them to the airport. After returning to UNIS I addressed the 200 waiting emails.

The sun at Sukkertoppen.

The walk back down the mountain.

The Longyearbyen school.

UNIS from above.

The hike on Firday and the persistence of virtually no wind motivated another walk around town on Saturday. I bought the camera and some of the shots are below. It was a good thing I went because two hours after returning home, it started snowing and we woke up to white today.