Physics in the Arctic – we’ve arrived!

The IOP’s National Officer in Scotland, Alison McLure, is chief scientist on a current expedition to the Arctic. She regularly writes about her Svalbard adventure on the Iop blog:

“The group gathered together in Oslo and had an excellent flight to Longyearbyen in Svalbard. Not an ash cloud to be seen, but the geologists on the party were disappointed not to see anything. There had also been an aurora alert, but, because it’s light all the time here, it was not possible to see anything. Looks like we’ll have to come back in the winter.

The participants on the course are graduates or undergraduates of science. Most of them are geographers, but we have a couple of geologists and biologists as well.

Our first day in the Arctic was spent picking up equipment for our trip, including skis, pulks, ice axes and crampons. Our scientific kit is waiting for us in base camp. Unfortunately, our plans were scuppered by high winds and the boatmen decided that it would not be safe to take us round. So we had to spend another night in the town and hope that the wind dies. Looking at the forecast, it seems that the winds are not too high elsewhere, but this is a funnelling or venturi effect through the fjiord.

We are looking forward to getting to our base camp in Wimendalen, so that we can start our scientific work. So wish us luck with the wind.”