Wednesday 19 March 2014

Northern lights, and the radar saga continues...


March 18th – Last night we all saw the Northern Lights for the first time! They were awesome, dancing around from horizon to horizon in a pale green colour. I tried to take a photo but my camera had frozen. Once it had warmed up the lights had dimmed a bit, but I got this very amateur shot just to prove it. Note to self: if you’re using an SLR in -25C, always keep it in your jack to keep warm!


Today we left Kangerlussuaq and flew to Ilulissat, making that flight 3 of 6 before we get to Station Nord (where the CryoVEx campaign will be based and we will fly out on to the sea ice). At the Airport we were reunited with the radar! Sadly it was behind security glass. So close, but so far. The baggage handlers weren’t overly encouraging when we asked if it would be on our flight to Qaanaaq tomorrow. It absolutely has to be on that flight, else we won’t have it before we get to Nord, because there’s only one flight a week to Qaanaaq. Here’s the radar looking sad and lonely:


And here’s the brilliant view from my hotel room in Ilulissat:



March 19th - Today we fly to Qaanaaq, where (hopefully) we’ll spend a few days practicing with the radar, running through our whole experiment setup, and getting used to working long hours in the cold. One thing we noticed when walking around Ilulissat is that the wind makes a real difference, it’s unbelievably cold and at one point I couldn’t even open my eyes. Off to the airport now to pester Air Greenland baggage handlers before we fly to Qannaq - wish us luck!

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