July 17: Exploring Longyearbyen

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 64

July 17
Today was an interesting day spent learning about the Svalbard Archipelago in general and exploring some specific features in Longyearbyen. We met at UNIS, which stands for the University Center in Svalbard. The center hosts students from throughout Norway and around the world and enjoys the support of the four Norwegian mainland Universities. It provides university level education in Arctic studies, with the goal of carrying out high quality research. Because of Svalbard's geographical location in the High Arctic, it is an ideal setting for carrying out laboratory work and provides ample opportunities and resources for aquisition and analysis of very specialized data. The focus for studies at UNIS includes Arctic Biology, Arctic Geology, Arctic Geophysics, and Arctic Technology. The courses offered are designed to complement studies at the mainland universities, providing students with relevant and challenging observational and research opportunities. All the UNIS courses are based on the exceptional location of Svalbard and the pre-eminence of this region as an “Arctic laboratory”. Students attending classes at UNIS are engaging in studies intended to lead to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. About half of the students at UNIS come from abroad. The classes are all taught in English and there are no tuition or fees. However, living in Svalbard can be very expensive! Also, enrollment in classes is becoming highly competitive due to the levels of success and increasing interest in this program. Studying in this high-latitude research laboratory provides students with the opportunity of a lifetime!

We are fortunate to have two of the finest professors from UNIS joining us for our first week in Isfjord Radio and preparing us for our research by orienting us to the geology, physical geography, and meteorology of Svalbard. Hanne Christiansen and Ole Humlum are from Denmark and each has special research interests they pursue in addition to faculty and administrative duties at UNIS. We accompanied Hanne to her various ice wedge and rock circle sites where she explained various geomorphological processes that involve the terrain and the permafrost characteristics unique to the High Arctic. Ole took us to see and learn about the glaciers that stand guard over the Longyearbyen. We saw our first Svalbard Reindeer, several in fact! We checked off many birds that had been mentioned to look out for.

As we spend more time together as a group, I find that I have some questions about how I might best contribute to this venture, or indeed if I will merely be cast in the role of an observer! The TREC program is designed to be a collaborative experience, and I am confident my Information Technology knowledge, including Geographical Information System (GIS) skills, graphic representation and data modeling abilities, geo-science and earth systems science background, and maybe most important, my experience in research and evaluation processes will be valued. In addition, I bring to the project a medical background. Though I hope it is not necessary to use it, I am sure it must be of some comfort to the participants and principle investigators to know that my skills are available, if needed.

From the experience I hope to deepen my understanding of the geological, meteorological, hydrological, and biological processes of the High Arctic and relate this experience to other research I have engaged in over the past few years that has centered on temperate and tropical regions. I anticipate striking differences, but I won’t be too surprised to find amazing similarities, as well. My goal is to take from this experience a better understanding of Earth as a system and to contribute to the overall success of the project.