Written 16 Dec 2007 3619 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -20 to -36 °C Our chief driller has been troubled with a bleeding finger the last week due to metal pieces that are stuck in the finger. The situation has become worse these last few days and she is currently requested by our paramedic Kjetil to quit working. The wound has been bleeding this last week. It is not serious but the wound will not heal properly. Today, our medical responsible, Kjetil Bakkland, removed pieces of metal in the finger but there might be more remaining. Because of this, the drilling of t...

Watch the glaciers of Kenai Fjords transform before your eyes as nearly a century of change is revealed by repeat photography. Dr. Bruce Molnia, glaciologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, has been conducting repeat photography research throughout Alaska for the last decade. His work in Kenai Fjords National Park focuses on photographs shot in 1909 by U.S. Grant and D.F. Higgins. Between 1905 and 1909, they completed the first detailed survey of the glaciers of Prince William Sound and the Kenai Fjords coast. Their photographs, archived in Denver, Colorado, provide an opportunity to document a century of change. With support from the Park Service motor vessel Serac, Molnia traveled the Kenai Fjords coast, duplicating the 1909 photos. Using clues such as mountain ridge lin...

The Shamrock Glacier in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Alaska, USA, has receded about 2 miles from its 1928 position near its terminal moraine. Some newly exposed morainal surfaces are now vegetated. 1928 photograph by Stephen R. Capps. 2004 repeat photography by M. Torre Jorgenson. The Southwest Alaska Inventory & Monitoring Network (SWAN) is an office of the National Park Service dedicated to providing the scientific foundation for effective, long-term protection and management of natural resources in five units of the national park system. Collectively these units comprise approximately 9.4 million acres, 11.6 percent of the land managed by the National Park Service, or 2 percent of the Alaska landmass, and include a diversity of geologic features, eco...

Climate Change ‘Magic’: Disappearing Lakes and Reappearing Artifacts In the summer of 1999, artist Hamish Fulton took a hike through the icefields of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve (WRST). One highlight of his journey was a traverse near Iceberg Lake on the Bagley Icefield. Imagine his surprise when he crested a low pass expecting to see the lake, but all that remained was a small creek emerging from the melting terminus of a small alpine glacier. Icerberg Lake had disappeared. While in another area of WRST, scientists were discovering rare archeological materials melting from ancient glaciers. How and why these events happened is covered in the latest issue of Alaska Park Science. The tenth issue of Alaska Park Science, entitled “S...

Written 15 Dec 2007 3619 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -23 to -36°C Unfortunately, another technical problem arose the other day. This time it was the transfer box on Chinook that died. A spare one is at Troll and we are expecting a Basler flight within a few days. However, to utilize our valuable time we decided to call this site “Plateau Station B” and go on with the planned science including drilling of a 90 meter ice core and erecting the first out of two Automatic Weather Stations. This weather station is prepared by the “Ice and Climate” group at Univer...

On 14 of December 1911, Roald Amundsen and his four men reached the South Pole. Thus, Amundsen, Bjaaland, Hanssen, Hassel and Wisting became the first persons to set their feet on the geographical South Pole. Written 14 Dec 2007 3619 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -20 to -37 °C In 1911, it was a race to be first reaching the South Pole. Amundsen’s strategy with using dogs to pull the sledges turned out to be superior to ponies and motor sledges used by Scott. Amundsen used 99 days back and forth from his station Framheim at the ice edge in the Ross Sea. The station was named after the polar vessel Fram owned by Fridtjof Nansen and used during the famous drift across the Arctic Ocean in 1893-1896. ...

Written 13 December, 2007 3619 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -21 to -38 °C Having completed our drilling at site 32B yesterday, we began our trip to Plateau Station this morning. With clear skies and a smooth snow surface, we were able to make good time across the ice sheet. Today is the International Polar Year’s “Ice Sheet Day” celebration. As one of the key International Polar Year Antarctic expeditions for Norway and the U.S., we used our satellite telephone to join in the Ice Sheet Day session at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Fran...

Written December 12 3591 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -24 °C to -37 °C The core would just not keep together! A number of drill holes were given up before we eventually managed to retrieve the two short ice cores that were planned for this location. The reason for this was most likely that we had stopped in an area with extreme low accumulation with large ice crystals that were very poorly bonded. None of us had experienced such conditions before. To avoid similar situations later on our traverse, we have now studied the Radarsat satellite mosaic for Anta...

3591 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -24 °C to -38 °C We were prepared for temperatures down to -50 degrees C before we left out on the expedition. The minimum temperature that we have recorded so far reached down to -46 degrees C. The lowest wind chill temperature was -64 degrees C. The three first weeks, nighttime temperatures dropped steadily below -40 degrees C. The last week, however, both daytime and nighttime temperatures have increased by about 5 degrees. We think we see the first signs of the summer… This change in temperature is making the conditions much easier for personn...

3591 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -22 °C to -30 °C Environmental regulations and standards in Antarctica follow the Protocol of Environmental Protection under the Antarctic Treaty. All activities are evaluated in accordance to these standards. Our project has reported the wide variety of activities that we carry out in an initial environmental evaluation. The evaluation was approved by the Norwegian Ministry of Environment prior to departure. The most severe impact from our project is burning of fuel due to the long distances we travel. In total, we will consume about 5...