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A large part of the Arktikum (Rovaniemi's Lapland Museum and Arctic Science center that I talked about in yesterday's journal) was devoted to illustrating how people have lived and continue to live in this northern climate, and the issues they face. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in the

Today was another day of weather contrasts. This morning, it was in the low 30’s and snowing when we headed out to the field. The snow got progressively harder and we anticipated closing our traps and calling it a day after lunch. However, after lunch, the snow stopped, the sun came out, and by the

While in downtown Rovaniemi yesterday, I spent time at the Arktikum, Finnish Lapland's Museum and Arctic Science Center. The architecture of the exhibit building itself was really unusual. I enjoyed the central hallway, known as the 'Icy Finger.' It runs beneath a highway and pops out on the other

I was able to go on a ramble today to learn a little about Rovaniemi itself. Rovaniemi sits on the southern edge of Lapland about 8 km (5 miles) south of the Arctic Circle. It has a population of about 60,000 and is the capital and logistical center for Finnish Lapland. More information can be found

We are officially within the Antarctic Circle. Pretty exciting, pretty gorgeous, and pretty cold. Winter descends as we go further south. Last night as we cruised toward Rothera Station we began to encounter snow and ice, a lot of ice. I’ll post some footage when I get on station and can upload some

Weather Rollercoaster Two days ago, it was almost 60 degrees and I was comfortable in a short sleeve shirt at camp. Today, it was in the 20s and snowing. It’s amazing how quickly the weather can change here! All the advice that I was given about dressing in layers is absolutely true! Here’s a view

In the wee hours of today our ship cruised into the Gerlache Strait. This is an awe-inspiring stretch of scenery and wildlife. It is named after a Belgian Lieutenant Adrien de Gerlache. He came across this strait in the beginning of 1898. It runs between the Antarctic peninsula and the Palmer

There is always a possibility for unexpected events down on the ice, aka Antarctica. On my last expedition we had an emergency landing in Cancun Mexico. If you have to get stranded somewhere, this isn’t a bad place to kill time. Swimming in the Caribbean waters, watching the iguanas sun themselves

Today we continued running mixed gas samples through the gas chromatograph (GC). We finished analyzing for carbon dioxide by early afternoon, which meant we could switch the machine over to analyzing for methane. Although many GC machines will analyze for both gases at the same time, this one does