Expedition in the Arctic Region - page 3
Dear internauts,
On Wednesday July 15th we arrived at Longyearbyen, while a cold, fine and windy rain was falling. Even though located at 78° north latitude, the climate is tolerable, thanks to the Gulf Stream which reaches Svalbard, the archipelago where Spitsbergen is situated. Longyearbyen is the capital of this archipelago. Nevertheless, there is quite a contrast between 7° Celsius here and 30° Celsius in Brussels at our departure. And we will have to wait if we want to see the midnight sun, because of the cloudy sky.
From the airplane between Tromsö and here, we could admire the Norwegian Sea. As we approached Longyearbyen, we saw a magnificent landscape, with snow-covered mountains and impressive glaciers in the valleys.
At the airport, our colleague Jørge Berge, a young specialist of amphipods – the crustaceans we came to study here - was waiting for us. Recently, Jørge was appointed lecturer at the University of Longyearbyen, an institution in the middle of nowhere, but with 150 students. As his wife and his three children haven't moved yet to the archipelago, he offered us to stay with him in his apartment until we can go aboard the Polarstern, in two or three days.
Thursday morning (July 16th) we stayed at the university. Afterwards, we took some time to visit the neighbourhood. Longyearbyen is situated at the Adventfjorden, fiord which owes his name to a British whale ship from the 17th century. In the 19th century, the city became more important, as coal beds were discovered. Around the city, a few mines do still exist. In this region, the subsoil is permanently frozen until a depth of 30 cm; this is called “permafrost”. This is why we can see all sort of pipes – normally hidden in the soil - between the buildings.
In the harbour we took pictures of the “Lance”, oceanographic ship of the Norwegian Polar Institute. With her eagle’s nest (a cabin above a high mast), she has been constructed for navigating between icebergs.
We go for a walk on a glacier and Jørge urges us to take a gun with us, as unlucky encounters with polar bears do occur in this region. We discover traces of fossilized broadleaved trees from the Tertiary. From a geological point of view, the Svalbard is an archipelago which came apart from Greenland 50 million years ago. During our walk, we see reindeer passing by. The subspecies on this archipelago has shorter legs than the reindeer on the continent.
Tomorrow we'll go to the airport to welcome a Polish colleague and his assistant. Before we go aboard the Polarstern on Saturday afternoon, we will have many discussions between “amphipodologists”.
You will get more news in about a week,
Patrick
