TRAVEL WEEK



Picture of the week: lunar craters across the fjord.

As Transatlantic Science Week, the US-NORWAY annual conference to highlight science cooperation between the two countries, is in San Francisco this year. I took advantage of the location to leave a bit early and have a couple days at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo about 3 hours south.  I left on Wednesday afternoon after getting on the water for REMUS deployments on Monday and Tuesday.  The missions went well and established the pattern that we are going to try and repeat on a weekly schedule thoughout the winter.  On Tuesday, I also had a meeting with the UNIS faculty on the logistics of sampling in the polar night.  Already the LCD screens of my GPS and the ranger, an acoustic send/receive instrument to range off and communicate with the REMUS, are very slow to respond as the LC  (Liquid Crystal) part of D (Display) are freezing.   I rigged up a system after the  deployments to use foot warmers to keep those screens warm enough to keep responding in the field.  The key to sampling is to minimize the time it takes to deploy and recover, so that is what we are working on.  Another of my concerns regarding logistics is to have someone to help me in the field.  While a number of faculty, students and Nicole have helped out, it is hard to consistently schedule each mission.  Tuesday afternoon while frantically trying to get ready to leave, I met with Edward Byrne, a Fulbright student studying in Trondheim.  He is in Svalbard taking a course in ocean engineering and will take more course later this year.  He and I spoke and we agreed that he will work with me in the field with the REMUS this winter.  This will be great as we will be able to work around our respective schedules and ensure consistent sampling. 

Dinner out at Huset with the family the night before leaving.  Huset used to be the community center initially for the miners and then for Longyearbyen residence.  A new community center was built in the center of the town and now screens the movies and hosts community events.

After a stormy weekend, the beginning of the week was beautiful.  Clear skies and still with the blue glow of sun lasting from about 8 in the morning until 11, some direct sun still on the tops of the mountains and then a return to the glow from 2pm until about 4:30.  The bikes are no longer usable for the kids to go to school as the streets of Longyearbyen are sheets of ice.  It is also dark in the morning, so it is also safer if they are not riding.  The boys are now transitioning to walking, which is a bit more work, but as they have impressed Nicole and I with this entire trip, they will step up and meet the challenge.

Within 10 minutes of lifting off the tarmac, the sun was in my face.  The trip to Tromsø and onto Oslo was uneventful and I skyped the family when I arrived.  With the flights leaving in the afternoon, there are no connections in Oslo, so I had to stay overnight. On the flight to Frankfurt I sat next to a guy from Molde, a city south of Trondheim.  He was a car parts dealer and was on a holiday with his wife (sitting behind us) to Budapest.   He did not want to speak English to me even though he spoke it, which forced me into speaking Norwegian.  We spoke for about an hour of the 1.5 hour flight in Norwegian about each other’s background, our work, families etc. He filled in and taught me a few unknown words, but it was amazing to me what we were able to cover given my very limited vocabulary.  I really appreciated that he minimized the English.  It is hard in Norway, as most people speak perfect English and when they hear you struggle at all, most people switch the conversation.   This experience gave me a lot of confidence and look forward to using what I have learned more than I have.  Back to Harold… he was very interested in my work in the Arctic, about the sea ice patterns, the variations in the intensity of the Gulf Stream and they effects these patterns have on wildlife and fisheries.   In his 20’s, he had sailed around the world, had worked on fishing vessels, and had worked on shrimp trawlers off Greenland, so we had a lot in common in terms of time on the ocean.  We also used the map in the on-board magazine to chart the countries we had visited.  We both agreed that the islands of the North and South Pacific were and are near or at the top of our favorite places on earth.  Nice conversation and experience for someone (myself) who does not often take the time to talk to others on planes.

The plane arrived late in Frankfurt, so had only time to get to the next flight.  I got into my seat and got ready for the 11+ hours.  About 5 minutes later, an American couple stopped at my row and told (not asked) me to get out of their seat.  Not a good first impression of returning to the States!!  I was calm and showed them my ticket and it was clear that the airline had made a mistake.  I got up and told them they could have the seat.  The stewardess took my boarding pass and returned with a new one… 15K… the upper deck!  With a flat bed and a couple of movies, the trip was really nice.  After arriving in San Francisco, I had a 4 hour layover and felt a "welcome back" 4.0 earthquake centered in Berkeley before heading to San Luis Obispo. My student, Anniken, picked me up at in SLO and we went back to the house (she is house sitting for us while gone).  I crashed pretty hard and woke up the next day pretty refreshed.  I spent the day meeting with students, my technicians, and going through the foot-high pile of mail.  It was a bit strange being back and really felt like a visit rather than being home.  The weather was great as usual.  I told Nicole in a Skype call, being in that perfect temperature with a light breeze and the warm sun feels like getting into bed with cleanly washed sheets.  The smell of the trees was also intense.  I worked at home that evening and the following day getting ready for the talks and catching up on paperwork.  I also frantically drove around town checking off the items requested from Nicole and the boys.  It was also good to see our cats who obviously missed me as they were like glue, following me everywhere around the house.

Meeting with students (Johanna, James and Anniken) and technicians (Ian and Brian) for lunch at Cal Poly.

Hummingbird taking a time out outside the house in San Luis Obispo.

I then headed north on the 3 hour drive to the Bay Area, had a swim in the pool, had sushi take out and took in a movie.  I pick up my colleagues from NTNU for Science Week tomorrow…