We’ve arrived! After a day and a half of travelling, we arrived to find that our Quest UAV has arrived safely, with only minor transit damage to one wing, along with the package of spares that Quest sent up.
We spent an afternoon unpacking the equipment, and I’ve been getting familiar with the NERC Arctic Research Station and the village of Ny-Ålesund – Dave has been here several times before but it’s my first time this far north. And we really are a really long way north here; Ny-Ålesund is on the island of Spitsbergen, the largest in the Svalbard archipelago, and at 79° latitude it’s the world’s most northerly community. All summer it has enjoyed 24hr daylight, which is just now coming to an end, giving us some fantastic sunsets that merge seamlessly into sunrises. By the time we leave the nights will be about 6 hours long, and in two months’ time the sun will disappear for the winter.
Today we had our compulsory weapons training, to allow us to carry a rifle when we leave the settlement. This is in case we meet a polar bear. Usually the bears migrate north with the retreating sea ice in summer, but this year has seen an unusually high number remain on the Svalbard islands. Most stay on the eastern islands, but three have been seen in Ny-Ålesund village this year (and have been successfully chased away with flares), and there is known to be a mother and cub somewhere in the fjord at the moment.
Currently the weather is about as cold as a normal British winter (around 3 to 8 degrees in the middle of the day, -4 or so at night), with a reasonably strong southerly wind. We’re hoping for a lull in the wind when we begin our first flights.
Mapping the Midtre Lovénbreen in 3D with Fixed Wing UAV 