Friday, October 21, 2005
The last couple of nights this week have been pretty clear and we've had some fantastic views of the moon. As there's not much light pollution, the moonlight is amazing!! This was taken from my barrack looking towards Larsbreen. Because of our location, we can see the moon moving in a circuit of the sky all day.
Check out my scones!!! Olle had been asking me for ages to make crumpets, because he thought it would be great to have tea and crumpets made by an Englishman!!! Crumpets looked a bit difficult to make so I decided to do scones instead!! I was quite surprised at how well they turned out, and how tasty they were!!!Sunday, October 16, 2005
This is the Rock Glacier series up at Larsbreen (on the right) that I'm studying for my dissertation!! They're pretty impressive things!! Huge slow moving bodies of rock debris and ice!! We might be able to see the interior from the cave system at the push moraine!! I dug the hole yesterday to find the depth of the active layer (layer of rock not frozen together by the permafrost!!) It was hard work, but good fun!!!
This is our kitchen in Nybyen!! I'd just given it a massive clean as it had gotten into a bit of a state!!! Was feeling rather proud of myself!! It does look shiny though doesn't it!!!
These pictures are of Nybyen by night and Longyearbyen by night on the way back from Norwegian lessons at UNIS. The nights are closing right in now, and its even darker for longer when we get up!! Its wierd to think It'll be dark permanently dark soon!!!
These little wodden huts are spread all around Longyearbyen, but we're not really sure what they are. I think they might be bus stops, but havn't really seen any buses stopping at them. After going to the pub in town I thought it would be a good plan to get a photo with people waiting at one. So, Joe, Sarah and Heather obliged!
Thought I'd include a picture of UNIS and the Town centre in the snow!! The statue is of a miner carrying a pick axe and replacement axe heads!!
This is in the reception area of the Radisson where Mum and Dad were staying!! Its a nice hotel with some great food!! Great breakfasts!! It was the end of a really nice week seeing Mum and Dad and showing them what life is like on Svalbard!! Especially how eratic the weather can be!!!!
When we went down into the mine we all had to put on overalls and hard hats with head lamps!! We had to take breathing filters in there with us for safety reasons!! We weren't allowed to take any electrical stuff into the mine just in case they caused an explosion!! The head torches were explosive proofed apparently!! In the evening, we visited what's called the wilderness centre for an Arctic Barbeque. It was really great, as we got to try some more reindeer and whale and we were shown a slide show all about the history of Svalbard!! All in all, a really great day!!
Mum, Dad and I went to visit Gruve 3 (mine 3) the day before they left. Its an old mine that's no longer active, and is now used to show tourists about the history of mining on Svalbard. It was amazing to follow the coal seam deeper into the mine. We got to see a seam that had been mined, and got to crawl inside it!! The gap was only just over 1 metre thick and must have been hellish to have to work in!!! We got lots of Svalbard coal thought, mined by our own fair hands!!
Mum and Dad came to visit a week ago and the weather while thay were here was horendous!! On Friday when they came up to Nybyen for dinner there was the worst blizzard I've seen so far!!! And it went on for ages!! There was nearly a complete white out on the way to Nybyen (on the right!!)
The theme of the Ice Breaker Party was Under Sea. I was an ice berg!! As you can see it wasn't a great costume, but other people had some brilliant ones!! Mark and Amanda who are on the ERASMUS exchange in Denmark came to visit and joined in on all the festivities!!
So that we could get to know people from other courses at UNIS, there was a large party called the ICE BREAKER!! It was pretty swish, with everything organised by the students, including the food, decorating, bar staff etc. I was in the decoraton group, so helped to make lots of the tin foil sea creatures hanging from the roof!! Unfortunately as I got back late from Bjorndalen and so I missed the actual decorating of UNIS. It wasn't all bad though as we got to bring in the beer!!
Bjorndalen in the light of day!! It looked quite nice really! Because there was no fresh water, we had to bring all the water from Nybyen!! As there wasn't much left to do the washing up I tried melting some sonw on the stove!! After the fire got going, I found the chimney was quite warm so decided to give it a hug!! We never did use the melted snow...
This is the cabin at Bjorndalen across the valley from Longyearbyen . It can be used by UNIS students for visits into the wilderness. We stayed there the night after arriving there at about eight and being given a welcome drink immediately!! Usual activities occured, such as using binoculars in doors and singing songs very loudly whilst trying to remember the words!! All in all, it was a very nice visit!!
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
The photo on the left is of the two mountains opposite Longyearbyen, Adventtoppen and Hiorthfjellet. They looked quite nice in the sunshine after the snow. The picture on the right is of the remains of a German bomber that was destroyed by an English plane during World War 2. We saw it while we were out on a Geography excursionin Adventdalen. Apparently the bomber broke its propellers after landing, and then it taxied into an ice wedge!! While they were waiting for replacement props, the English plane found it and destroyed it.
These panoramas of the two glaciers that we saw on the trip. The one on the left is of Nordenskioldbreen that we saw on the Geology field trip but this time, it was in glorious sunshine!!! The two glaciers on the right are Tunabreen and Von Postbreen. Tunabreen has been undergoing a surge episode I think!!! They're amazing things to see!! Especially in nice weather!!
This of Me, Heather, Sarah and Joe at the back of Nordsyssel as we were leaving Tunabreen! Sailing on to the next glacier!
The beach on the left is at Bjunahamna, with ice bergs floating into the shore calving from Tunabreen. It was a great day to go to the beach!! Walking along the beach we saw a load of colluvial fans, and huge boulders that bounced down the fans. However, the highlight of the visit was seeing a rock glacier. As you can see I'm pretty happy about it!!
The mountain on the left is of Pyramiden, the mountain next to the Russian mining town. When we were there the first time the summit was cloudy, so it was great to see it on a nice day. The glacier I'm attempting to point at is called Tunabreen!!
These were taken on our second field trip cruise on a boat. This time it was for The Physical Geography of Svalbard module. The boat is called Nordsyssel and belongs to the Sysselman (Governor) of Svalbard. Its a pretty luxurious boat apparently because it used to be a casino boat!! The UNIS 2005 was written on the snowcovered helipad on the back of the boat!!
This is me and Olle on the way back from SvalSat. It was stupidly windy walking back and the snow was blowing sideways!!! I got so cold that day hence being wrapped up to the eyeballs!!
The pictures on the left is on the way to the satellites at SvalSat. I went there on a Sunday afternoon with Sigrid and Olle. The satellite dishes are inside the white spheres. We went inside and had a look at one of them which gave us a fright when it started moving while we were sitting having our lunch!! 
This is me inside the cave cut out by the subglacial meltwater channel during the summer which then freezes in the winter. This is just the entrance to the cave which apparently runs for about 400 m. I'm planning to go further along it and hopefully do some surveying for my dissertation as it runs beneath the rock glacier I'm looking at.
This is Me, Henry and Heather on the top of Sarcofagen in the snow with Longyearbyen in the background! It was a nice walk up, and a pretty eventful alternative walk down along Longyearbreen. At the bottom of Longyearbreen we had a big snowball fight. As you can see I came off pretty badly!!!
These are photos of Trollsteinen. The peak is on the left and the whole mountain on the right. Its a mountain behind the Larsbreen glacier. Just as we got to the peak the sun came out. It was a really beautiful view in the snow!!
This is me having a pose at the top of a nice snowy peak on the way to Trollsteinen. It looks much more impressive than it actually was, and wasn't all that high!!!
This is Mine 2 on the South East side of Longyeardalen valley. Liz and I walked up there one afternoon after my lectures. Apparently there was a fire in there after it was shelled by German warships during World War 2 as they sailed right into the fjord. We had a good explore inside and after a climb up a very rickety staircase found that the entrance to the mine shaft had been intruded by permafrost!!
Thought I'd include a couple of the road signs you get in Svalbard that you don't get in England. There are Snow Scooter signs up all around the town, but the Polar Bear warning signs are around the outskirts of the town. Apparently its been changed quite recently from a black bear on a white background because people rightly pointed out that polar bears are white not black!!
We went on a dog sled trip on wheels into Adventdalen, the valley opposite Longyearbyen. It was an amazing experience being pulled along by pack of really eager dogs!! They genuinely seemed to enjoy pulling the cart!! After the trip we went to the kennels to pay a visit to some of the new puppy arrivals!!! They promply mobbed Liz when we got in there!!
