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Since we left on Friday, we have spent the last 4.5 days in transit - sailing to the first of our test stations. Once we reach that point, science operations will happen 24 hours a day. People will be assigned watches (work shifts), and everyone will become a whole lot busier. Sunday night we met as

After the last year and a half, remote learning has consumed students and teachers alike. Today's class will be extra special remote, since I'm not teaching live and I'm in the Arctic while preparing. So, pretend you're here on the ship as I describe a bit of Arctic geography to you. Bundle up

Due to the remote location of the field work for this expedition, there will often be limited or no communication between the ship and the rest of the world. In such a case, PolarTREC staff will provide intermittent updates. We have not heard from Jon in a few days now, so we thought we would add a

Nobody told me that there was going to be "hazing" on the ship - weather hazing that is. We sailed for about 4 hours, and then the ship started pitching and rolling a bit, then a bit more, then a lot more. We spent the next 36 hours in a constant state of non-constant movement. If you've ever been

I was testing WhatsApp with Janet Warburton, program coordinator of PolarTREC, at about 7:20 pm on 9-10-21, when I noticed a change in the engine sounds. All of a sudden we were moving away from the dock. There had been an earlier announcement in Russian; however, those had happened several times

Well, it’s 10:00 am ship time on Friday morning - the ship is set to Moscow standard time, which is an hour ahead of the dock 15 feet away - and we are still in port. There was an issue with the hydraulics on an A-frame that needed to be fixed before ‘we’ (in the broad sense - I’m just a bystander)

After arriving in Kirkenes and getting settled, I finally got to meet members of the team and go over to the warehouse where the equipment for the expedition is being staged. I am glad that someone came to pick me up because although the warehouse is only a short distance from the hotel, there are

Well, to quote one of my favorite series, Game of Thrones, "Winter is Coming." While I'm not so worried about the approach of the White Walkers from across the Wall, I noticed a distinct change in the weather as soon as I arrived in Kirkenes. Suddenly I was underdressed in a t-shirt, even with a

Thanks to one of the community workers in Lillestrom, I was able to arrange for a COVID test and be released from quarantine on Friday. Otherwise, I would have had to wait until today (Monday). So, I left Olavsgaard and spent the weekend in Oslo. Oslo is a great, diverse city with a terrific mix of