Longyearbyan to Isfjord Radio

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 64

July 20, 2004

Today we left Longyearbyan for Isfjord Radio (38 ° 04' N). Built near the site of the lighthouse at KappLinné in 1933 by the Norwegian government, Isfjord Radio has experienced an interesting, if somewhat remote past. Serving as an essential radio-transmission station until just recently, Isfjord Radio has been linked to the mainland via satellite since 1978. Isfjord Radio is currently operated remotely from Longyearbyan. It serves as a base station for scientific researchers throughout the year and a snowmobile destination during the winter.

We enjoyed our past few days in Longyearbyan, possibly because we know it will be the last town we will see for several weeks. Longyearbyan provided us the opportunity to visit our first glacier of this expedition and to complete our safety training, including getting in some firearm practice. Having the time to get to know one another, before being placed in situations where not only the success of the research project but our actual survival might depend on our ability to collaborate, has also left us feeling motivated and confident. This is a great group and it is already apparent that through the time we spend together and through collaboration it will become even stronger and more successful.

Longyearbyan is quite a unique little town that seems to focus on Spitsbergen Travel and UNIS (The University Center on Svalbard). There is a grocery store, though food is very expensive. There is a post office, a bar, a hotel, restaurants, and a few other small shops and businesses. The various accommodations used to house students, researchers, tourists, and travelers who visit the area, are painted in bright colors, providing a colorful mosaic in contrast with the landforms, snow, and ice.

We enjoyed spending a few hours each day we were in Longyearbyan attending class, reading e-mails from home, and getting a feel for the area. We visited various research sites to learn about the area’s geology and meteorology, Svalbard’s geological and historical record, interesting Arctic phenomenon such as ice wedges and permafrost, and glacial structures and processes. UNIS professors from Denmark, Hanne Christiansen and Ole Humlum, inspired us with relevant fieldtrips and dynamic presentations that went far beyond the data, providing content and process knowledge intertwined with this amazing Arctic story of the high Arctic.

During the evenings, we prepared our meals from food purchased at the grocery store. On our last evening in Longyearbyan, some dined on whale and other assorted delicacies at the local restaurant and then went to see movie Day After Tomorrow, showing at the local theater. It seemed to be an appropriately extreme movie considering what we have been studying and what we may have in store for us.

We are very fortunate in that Hanne and Ole, along with one of their graduate students from Germany, Ulli Neuminn, will join us for our first week in Isfjord Radio. They will be engaging in their own research as well as providing us with continuing background information on the meteorological and geological processes that create and influence the systems we are studying. This will focus primarily on the KappLinné area, including the coastal shores, lakes, valleys, streams, rivers, moraines, mountains, cirques, and glaciers that comprise this region.