Busy past days - Launcing of my first weather balloon, Helicopter training, Welcoming dinner, Svalbard, whales, Reaching the ice edge

The last days has been really busy; getting all the last instruments working in challenging weather conditions, main focus on the sounding station. On Thursday we were given working clothes to work on sea ice and also, everyone from us got nice warm jackets (see Photo), with name tags from the Swedish Polar Research. These are so warm and cosy, and they can keep you warm at close to zero degrees that we have now. Thursday eve we also gave the second Lindy Hop class on Oden - and we got a few more eager to try out the new dance style. I am so happy that they get excited from the dancing, which gives me energy- Also, I think dancing on Oden, starting during the first week already, makes us to better get  know each other and creates a lovely atmosphere on the ship :) 

Friday 30/7 - launch of the first weather balloon and Helicopter training

Today was a special day! At noon before lunch we launched our first weather balloon! I got to do most of the things, guided by John. We had some issues, but in the end managed to find a temporary solution and released the balloon from the Helipad. The word spread among us and we had quite and audience to watch this special moment! I got to the honour to release the balloon ! Until now I have analysed radiosonde and observation data that are already available - doing it by myself makes me feel like a real meteorologist! And knowing that these observations are valuable input in the weather forecast models and will be immediately be used in improving the near weather forecast! Amazing! In the afternoon we had a helicopter training - we got reminded of all the dangers to be considered while being on a helicopter and working further from the ship taken by the helicopter. We also had a one hour practical training outside and we got to sit inside the helicopter - I truly wish we get the chance to join one of the helicopter stations! Tomorrow (Monday) there will be our first helicopter station, where fishing knots will be tested.

In the evening we were all invited by the captain for a Welcoming dinner - all 70 people in the same room! It still felt so unreal - regarding covid - that a week ago we were all trapped and isolated in hotel quarantine, and now we are sitting tight in a dining room, eating and talking to each other - sitting much closer than 2 m! I have to get used to this - feels amazing! On the top of the 2 course dinner, we got to enjoy lovely live saxophone concert - and later in the bar/lounge some more jazzy saxophone. This evening was really topped all my expectations - dancing to live music, all hanging out in a bar while heading to the Arctic. And it got even better - in the evening we launched our second balloon - the midnight launch. Cant describe in words how happy I am to be part of this expedition! We were happy after a successful weather balloon release - and the sky cleared up - sun brightly shining at 2 am  (see photo). A perfect ending to a lovely evening full of surprises. This sounding went up to over 31 km height - and is a potential winner for the competition: who gets the weather balloon to fly the highest before exploding! Fingers crossed I will win this price. We went to bed around 3 am this lovely sunny evening.

 

Saturday 31/7 - passing Svalbard & spotting whales

Today we were forced to wake up early - well early for me considering that I went so late in bed: We had a fire alarm training 10:15 and gathered all on deck, a name check was performed and then we all got to practise how to put down a fire. I think it is so good that we do these practises, so we know what to do in case of real emergency or fire on the ship.

Even though I was super tired today - I got all the energy for waking up from the sunny weather AND seeing SVALBARD to the right! Glaciers, mountains, snow and ice. This was beautiful and brought me back memories from my Exchange studies on Svalbard in autumn 2016. I was really hoping that we could have visited Svalbard now, or fly home from there after the expedition, but due to the current pandemic we are not allowed to…

Anyways, today morning and day was lovely - had my 3rd weather balloon release at noon in front of Svalbard (see Photo). This time I did all the work and John was just watching - he said confidently I am ready for launching the balloons myself from now on :) Felt so good to hear, and I was excited! I also felt so honoured that he trusts me after 3 launches. From now on we start with our regular sounding schedule: launching every 6h, starting from today 12 UTC. I was responsible for the 18UTC launch and John took over the 00UTC midnight launch.

The day just got better - we were working on the roof on remote sensing instruments - cloud radar and cloud radiometer (retrievals of cloud vertical profiles) - giving us a perfect spot for whale watching - We saw so many whales!! They were swimming along the coast of Svalbard, mainly in groups. Sometimes they were so many and it looked like multiple water fountains in the sea. This was lovely! 

During the afternoon the winds got quite rough and we experienced a sudden change in the weather - we got more into bumpy seas and heavy winds. Perfectly in time (or not…) for the 18 UTC launch— it felt like a catastrophe - the weather with the strong winds and another factor made this launch super difficult and it really challenged my nerves how to handle tricky situations. I had to repeat the preparation of the sounding, filled up the balloon, walking up the helipad and trying not to fly with the wind - the second try was luckily successful! I am happy I managed to solve the situation and launch the balloon within the required time frame. For the rest of the evening, I was trying to recover from the previous experience - gathering strength and energy for my second own launch in the early morning at 6 UTC.

Sunday 1/8 - successful weather balloon releases and first ice flows

I managed to launch the weather balloons in the morning and at 12 UTC all by myself. I was pretty nervous in the night - did not want to miss my alarm at 5 am so woke up every hour to check my phone. But all good in the end and the weaker winds and foggy conditions made it kind of magical, standing on the Helipad and releasing the balloon, disappearing into the clouds… I had to wait until 7.40 to catch the data from the sounding, so went to the gym at 6 in the morning, what else to do? At least I woke up and felt ready for the day!

We arrived at the Ice edge and we could see lots of lonely ice flows were floating by us (see Photo). It was all so magical: almost no wind, no waves, foggy, seeing the first ice flows and the ice edge in the far background, hidden by the cloudy and foggy conditions. We could enjoy this beautiful scenery for a while, when we were standing still due to other groups wanting to perform calibrations on their instruments. 

In the evening it was time for the third Lindy Hop class - we were a bit fewer tonight, but some of us had to work in the evening and could thus not come. I am planning a nice performance on the North Pole, with some lindy and solo jazz choreography, danced on the Ice on the NorthPole, accompanied by live music playing on the background! Many are asking me about that choreo and when we start practising, so I will start planning it in the coming next days for us to practise before we reach the 90 degrees N (currently at 81.5 N).

Can’t wait to come to the Ice tomorrow and officially start this expedition! So happy I am here!