Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 07/11/2009 - 19:41
Forums
High Arctic Change 09

Hello Michael! At least I hope that's who this is- if not, sorry. I'm trying to figure this out. Well, I told you I would write you, and here I am. But we're going to start off on a simple topic... mostly because I don't know what else to ask. SO, how is Golden Compass Island?! Are you even there yet? How was the trip? Have you seen any "High Arctic Change" yet? Hope you are having fun!

Lexy Leahy

Sun, 07/19/2009 - 10:02

Mike Rhinard

Hi Lexy!GCI is incredible.  
We have finally arrived at our destination, Ny Alesund.
It is the northernmost permanent town on Earth.
The trip was great.  We were able to visit Oslo, Norway for a few hours between planes.  Went to the FRAM museum of early arctic exploration.
Oslo looks like it would be a great place to do a college student exchange by the way.  
We ARE seeing High Arctic Change.  But mainly by looking at older aerial photos and comparing to what we can visually see now.  The work we'll be doing is more involved than that.  I will try to document what we're doing in the journals.
Keep asking questions, okay?

Mon, 07/20/2009 - 06:36

manny

hey dude, been trying to catch up with you. its like chasing a seal running from a shark.. LOL. hope your having fun and keeping safe and out of the water ( don't go into the water ). we are getting ready to go camping again, and the come back and head to cascade to irv's place. been hot here over a 100 last 2 days.have you been on any glaciers or other exciting things there... bet the vodka is great.been reading your journals, great and the map is good to. I was gonna ask you to bring back some ice. for my cooler but that is a long time to wait. your clothing keeping you warm. what do you do at night, when all is done and said for the day.
still looks a bit cold up there. but if your moving about, you should be warm and sweating.. try anything different in food over there,, seal poop, whale meat, dried shark,,, ??? hey take care of yourself, and I will write again soon.
manny

Tue, 07/21/2009 - 01:14

Mike Rhinard

 100+ degrees????   Certainly not here.  Though the temps for 79* N are pretty nice.
It's 3*C right now. 
(Here's a great place for conversion to F*:  www.metric-conversions.org )
You can check the weather here in Ny Alesund at: 
www.wunderground.com/global/stations/01007.htm
It's the wind that gets ya here.  We've not been out on the fjord yet because it's been too windy to be out in small boats.  Today it's to be calmer and we're scheduled to take a run out to our glacier after lunch.  Hopefully NPI (Norwegian Polar Institute) will have our boats ready by tomorrow so we can get going collecting some data.
 
As for the food . . . that'd be a great idea for another journal entry.  Keep watching, I'll try to get some pics and info on that.
We are eating very well here.  It's almost like living at college.  We stay in a dorm and walk to the dining hall, then to our lab.  In the dining hall there is always coffee, water, juice available and a table with cereals.  At meal time there's a daily menu. We've had some pretty good food. 
We did try whale meat at the restaurant in Longyearbyen.  I think I posted a pic of it.  It's dark meat, and pretty lean and tasty.  Other than that, nothing too exotic.  The lunch meat and a few other things put out for us look like I'd want to know what they are before eating them.  But most main dishes are basic eat anywhere types of things.  We had some very good haddock for dinner last night.
Hector, one of our REU students, is from El Paso, TX.  I think he's excited for dinner on Friday, it's tacos.  We'll see what Norwegian tacos are like.  I'll get the El Paso Texa food critic's thoughts and let you know.
As for seal poop and shark meat . . . No, I don't think I'll have to eat that.
Thanks for checking in.  Ya'll come back again soon, ya hear?