Being cold… Very cold
Rather optimistic this morning, Martin poked his head out of the tent and reported it was not as cold as the day before. Sure, we know that coming from a warm tent everything is relative even being cold but the idea of skiing and not having to deal with frostbites of our hands or feet […]
It’s dangerously cold, day and night
The first few days of a polar expedition are usually the coldest and with the sledge at maximum weight the first few tugs over the smallest of lumps seem disproportionately hard. Trying to describe what it’s like to be here in order to help someone who hasn’t is like explaining what wine…. or beer tastes […]
NASA overflight happened today!
Today was a great demonstration of total collaboration between many parties all wanting to achieve the same objective; measuring the arctic sea ice. When Martin and I got invited to an ESA meeting in January we met Nathan of NASA who told us about the Icebridge campaign and their new flight route over Svalbard in […]
OIB completed the high priority Svalbard North mission.
OIB completed the high priority Svalbard North mission. This mission was designed to sample sea ice on the eastern hemisphere side of the Pole, within the Russian FIR boundary which had formerly been off limits to OIB. A portion of the return leg to Longyearbyen was along an ICESat-2 ground track. In addition to Level […]
Today is a special day…
Today is a special day for the expedition. Exploration is about going somewhere collection new information and then sharing it. Today as we ski along taking snow depth measurements a NASA plane will fly over the top of our route collecting the same data as we do all the way to 90 Degrees North. Making […]
After three years… Back in business
As soon as I stepped inside the helicopter today at Barneo it all came back. The endless vastness of frozen sea water, 7 million square kilometers, the size of Europe. The incredible hostile and forbidden arctic that pushes you away - we humans are not welcome - but beckons you to come back if you […]
The team has hit the ice!
This morning at 07:00 AM Bernice and her team have hit the Ice! They left Longyearbyen in Svalbard in the night at about 03:00 AM The team has been delayed by about three days. the coming days are hard work as they have to get used to minus 30 degrees Celcius. Get used to the […]
stop and… GO!
The lessons to be learned on each expedition is that there is suspense and then a rush. It is like being a surgeon in the operating room — you may have a quiet night but can’t wonder off too far just in case something happens and then when it does happen you are scrambling to […]
