Written 6 December, 2007 3589 meters above sea level Minimum temperature: -41 °C One of the associated projects that we accommodate on the traverse is to collect samples for studies of concentrations of black carbon in the snow pack. Black carbon originates from the industrialized parts of the world and is transported to the Polar Regions through the atmosphere. Presence of black carbon efficiently reduces the surface albedo, i.e. how efficient the surface reflects solar radiation. The lower the albedo, the more solar energy is absorbed at the surface which in turn can reduce the albedo even more by changi...

Written December 5, 2007 3585 meters above sea level After traveling all day, tonight we set camp at a location where satellite imagery told us we would experience very different snow structure across an expanse of several kilometers. Standing outside the vehicles and looking out across the expanse of the ice sheet, on casual inspection it looked pretty much the same in all directions; very small surface roughness with evidence of shifting winds, including occasional patches of shiny wind-induced surface polish. Yet our crevasse-detection radar had recently begun showing signs of unusual vertical fe...

Written Thursday, 6 December Today is St. Nicholas Day and my birthday. Saint Nicholas has been busy during the night, and yesterday he actually came all the way from Holland and brought us beautiful stationary with expedition stamps, and on top of all that he had even written a poem! Last night I could not wait for the morning after all, so I curiously looked at all the little presents my loved ones had smuggled into my sea chest (it was shortly after Midnight and therefore already the 6th :-). I got some really nice surprises and enjoyed them very much, and when I got on deck this morning to see what my fe...

Report no 6 Written December 5, 2007 We are on our way now with four tracked vehicles and five sledges. Our departure became delayed by a few extra days due to practical problems of various kinds. We started our traverse on December 4 and are now heading towards the Swedish station Svea. Some load adjustments will be carried out during the next few days to level the speed of the tracked vehicles. The plan is to drive to Svea and make some fuel arrangements and then go up Kibergdalen to the Polar plateau. Our science plan is unchanged but sample density and sample timing have by necessity been adjusted to the present situation. Today we took a firn core close to the nunatak Fossilryggen and we also took snow samples for different projects. The weather ha...