Mooring recovery and deployment Aug 24 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-08: Fram Strait cruise KPH”.

For science it is important to get measurements, preferably a lot of measurements. That’s not so easy if you have to take the icebreaker, you have only one and very limited ship time. One thing to go round this is to have sets of instruments that are moored at different locations in the sea. A weight and a buoy keep the communication cable with the instruments vertically and make the mooring stationary

On this cruise we had to recover seven moorings between 78° und 79° N and between 2° and 10° W. To communicate with the mooring a so-called hydrophone is used which can transmit and receive acoustical signals. The hydrophone is used to find the mooring and also to release it. Then the mooring will detach from the weight at the bottom and the upper buoys will slowly drift to the surface.

Then you have to find the mooring . Visually. That’s not an easy task because you will release the mooring in a certain distance to the ship to avoid crashing it into the hull. Beside of that it was pretty foggy this day when a team of NPI engineers and the ship’s crew tried to recover the first mooring with the id F10-19.

But look: There it is! It was found a while ago and our ship Kronprins Haakon is already in position for the recovery.

Now it takes a while to get everything on board without to destroy the scientific instruments. A lot of winch work is involved in the process.

This recovery at 2° W took approximately took one and a half hours. I think that’s quite fast if you consider, that the depth of the sea is round 2650 m at this place. That’s a lot of cable to pull up.

In the afternoon the second mooring recovery took place, this time at 3° W. I’ll show some more photos because this was one of the rare occasions when we actually had sun.

When the mooring was on board the collected data had to be fetched from the instruments and checked while other research was going on in parallel. And so the work continued until the last mooring was recovered three days later.

Of course you want to proceed with the continuous measurements. So on our way back the same amount of moorings had been deployed at the same places. Sometimes a mooring could be re-used, sometimes instruments had to be calibrated on mainland and a replacement was deployed. Each deployment started with the heaviest part, the iron weight that moors the cable to the ground following by the cable, the instruments and some buoys. And then again – a lot of winch work, setting carbines and so on.

Today we got the message: “All moorings are deployed! 🎈” – Great news!

P.S.: One instrument was lost but already in November. The data anyhow is saved elsewhere in the mooring and could be recovered.

Disclaimer: This is a private blog. I try to stick to the facts as good as I can. However this article has not proofread by any other people. Therefore some facts can be slightly inaccurate or even plainly wrong. If you find a mistake, please let me know and I will correct it. Thank you!

Ice station one and polar bears Aug 25 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-08: Fram Strait cruise KPH”.

For days we wondered, will we ever have an ice station on this Fram Strait cruise in open water? But then at 14° 21′ W, 79° 02′ N we found a large ice floe to work on. Shortly after nine o’clock I finally was on the ice again!

But I wasn’t here to take snapshots but to fly drone and to take a lot of photos from above.

I had issues with the drone from the Polar Institute, so I fetched my private one. First I had to calibrate some sensors, especially the compass and then I put the drone into the air and made some photos to check the image exposure. Ok, looks pretty good.

Test photo I – researchers and equipment from above

Test photo II – Kronprins Haakon in the ice

Now I flew the drone in a rectangular zig-zag pattern. That’s a bit tricky, because the drone is positioned by GPS while the ice flow is drifting. Since I wasn’t sure if I covered every part of the ice station I flew a second round. The single photos look like these:

Before going on board I took a couple of photos on the ice.

Ice work– Henrik Fisser (UiT), Dmitry Divine (NPI)

On board I uploaded the photos first into my laptop and then into the program OpenDroneMap that would stitch the photos together and add geographical information. And then it was 11:30, lunch time!

After lunch I went up on the bridge on deck 8. Together with two others I was observing my segment checking for polar bears, cracks in the ice and weather. There were several polar bears around but all were further away. I also had a VHF to keep track on the people on the ice. I had two shifts, 12:30–13:15 and 14:00–14:45.

After my second shift I got to know that we had a polar bear in front of the ship. So one of the bears that we had observed for hours had finally decided to pay us a visit. That meant of course that all people had to leave the ice. On the helicopter deck many people were around to watch the bear.

And there it was – a surprisingly white curious fellow that examined our ship. Did it smell the cake?

In the meanwhile OpenDroneMap finally created a properly rendered orthophoto. I was relieved because I was not sure if my drone photos were sufficient. This is an excerpt:

In the afternoon I had fixed the issue with the other drone. At 19:00 I would have another opportunity to go onto the ice to re-calibrate and test it. Our ice visit was however postponed because another polar bear was paying a visit. It looked much thinner than the other one, but on the other side the fur was wet. So photo shooting again. It surrounded the ship and then stopped, laid down onto its stomach, pushed itself forward with its furry feet and then rolled in the snow before it continued its walk.

We had to wait some time but then the ice was clear and I had time to test the drone on the ice. It worked. Hopefully I would be able to use it on the second ice station on the next day but the forecast does not look promising. Too much wind.

I shot a drone selfie and then I was ready to go on board. I just had to put my hand into one of the polar bear paw prints for size comparison.

The bear won!

Ice station two and icebergs Aug 26 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-08: Fram Strait cruise KPH”.

When I woke up in the morning of the 20th of August my first thought was: will there be another ice station? I peeked through the port hole and – yes – we were at least in the ice. From the helicopter deck it looked like this:

Round nine o’clock the ice station is started. Eleven people are involved – four scientists and students actually doing science, a polar bear guard on the ice and two times three bridge watches taking turns to observe everything from above. I take the morning shifts, the weather is not good for drone flying anyhow. Yesterday we had a lot of polar bears on the ice, today it is quiet. It is more the fog that could lead to problems, but even the visibility is ok. Good luck.

In the afternoon it has become too windy to fly the drone. I get onto the ice anyhow to take photos for outreach. Time to show people doing research on the ice. It is a lot of manual work. Carrying things down the gangway, pulling sledges, using drills with coring equipment, a saw to slice the ice cores, a digital thermometer and for a lot of data – paper and pencil. This may sound antiquated but writing down notes works often works better in harsh environments than using electronics.

Ice work I: pulling equipment (Lia Herrmannsdorfer, NTNU in the front)

Ice work II: taking cores (Henrik Fisser, UiT and Dmitry Divine, NPI)

Ice work III – measuring (Henrik Fisser, UiT and Dmitry Divine, NPI)

Ice work IV – writing down data (Henrik Fisser, UiT)

Ice work V: measuring an ice core (Alexandra Pliss, NTNU)

Later, just before dinner people who never have stood on the sea ice before become an opportunity to do that. I was on the sea ice three times since yesterday, so I volunteer for bridge watch again. The weather has become more and more nasty. It is raining and wind is blowing with temperatures round +1 °C. So it looks from the bridge:

At 17:30 (dinner time) the second ice station is finished. Now we will head back more or less the same way we came from. I take some photos from the helicopter deck, especially from the turquoise coloured melt ponds that I have never seen before like that.

Melt ponds on the sea ice in the Fram Strait I

Melt ponds on the sea ice in the Fram Strait II

Melt ponds on the sea ice in the Fram Strait III

At 9 o’clock we reach the ice edge and sail through the open sea again. Time to say farewell. I do not know when I’ll may see my beloved sea ice again.

Anyhow one thing was different than on our way there some days ago: icebergs are drifting on the sea. We see a lot of them on this and the following day. Some of them are small or medium sized …

… one of them was huge. I am able to take a drone photo from above. I estimate that the cliff to the right has a height of 10-15 metres.

There was one difference between the two ice stations. It is visible on the map:

While the 2nd ice station started and ended at the same place, the 1st ice station didn’t. This is because the 1st station was on drift ice while the 2nd station was on fast ice. Fast ice is either grounded or it is connected to land, in this case Greenland.

Although Greenland with islands was more than 50 km away it was visible on the 19th of August. I was really surprised and also happy – I have never seen Greenland before. And I managed to take some blurred photos (cropped image, 600 mm focal length).

Feels like I should visit that place sometimes …

Hydrographical measurements in the Fram Strait Aug 30 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-08: Fram Strait cruise KPH”.

You see the map with Greenland to the left and Svalbard to the right? And all these orange dots?

Each of the dots stands for a cast where an instrument or a set of instruments was lowered into the water. As you see it was quite a lot of casts that the researchers and the crew of the icebreaker Kronprins Haakon conducted in the Fram Strait between 14° W and 10° E within two weeks.

Let’s start with the most prominent hydrographical instrument, the CTD.

CTD stands for Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth. It is a group of instruments to measure these important water properties. The conductivity is directly related to salinity. While the CTD is lowered these three properties are measured continuously which results in so-called “profiles” that show the salinity and the temperature per depth. With these properties oceanographers get the first insight in what kind of sea water it may be. It is Atlantic? Or Arctic? But there are also other sensors mounted to the CTD to measure properties such as fluorescence or current velocities.

Also part of a CTD is the rosette of “Niskin bottles”. These bottles can be opened and closed remotely underwater to fetch sea water in defined depths on the way up. The large CTD has 24 of these bottles. When it is on board again and stands on the euro-pallet in the main hangar on deck 3 then it is time to fetch water samples from the Niskin bottles.

Some of the samples will be processed on land after the cruise but many samples are processed directly. Two examples:

Anne-Marie Wefing (NPI) uses the Winkler titration to measure the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the sea water. My chemical knowledge is too weak to explain this process. For the chemists amongst you I refer to the Wikipedia article for details.

One step of the Winkler titration to measure dissolved oxygen

Daniel Koestner (University of Bergen) leads water through different types of filters. The water can pass, particles exceeding a certain size will remain in the filter. While the deeper sea water is quite pure the samples from the upper water column contain more particles. The difference is visible by the naked eye but only land-bound lab work will give quantifiable results. Some of the filters can be transported at room temperature, those for chlorophyll have been frozen at -80 °C.

Daniel Koestner is also part of the team that measures particle concentrations directly in the water using a laser. This is how the instrument of the “optical cast” looks like:

The CTD is a heavy-duty instrument and could be used more or less all the time. Other instruments such as the laser or the MSS are much more fragile and the usage had to be skipped when the waves were to high. Too big the risk, that an expensive instrument would crash. But as far as I know everything has gone well!

Some cruise stats:

CTD casts	73
Optical casts	44
MSS casts	27
Total casts	144

While I have the luxury to work whenever I want the sheer amount of casts has led to a huge amount of lab work and some teams have been working in shifts, because casts have been conducted day and night.

Disclaimer: This is a private blog. I try to stick to the facts as best as I can. However, this article has not been proofread by anyone, so some facts may be slightly inaccurate or even plainly wrong. If you find an error, please let me know and I will correct it. Thank you!

Fram Strait 2024 – returning to Svalbard Sep 1 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-08: Fram Strait cruise KPH”.

26 August 2024

It is the 14th day of our Fram Strait cruise. We are on our way back to Longyearbyen on Svalbard. After many grey and foggy days we finally have got nicer weather since yesterday and so I am standing on the “heli deck” looking for animals to take pictures of. I cannot see any whales and the few puffins that I spot are too fast and too far away. So I take photos of the seagulls that effortlessly accompany the ship.

Since today it is possible to see land again in the distance. Not Greenland like a week ago but Prins Karls Forland, an elongated island which is the westernmost island of the Svalbard archipelago.

I have gone inside again until I see a message popping on our WhatsApp group:

Dolphins just in front of the ship now

I grab my photo bag, hurry to the heli deck again and see a school of dolphins on the starboard side. Most of them swim underwater but again and again a group of these beautiful sea mammals come out of the water. With my big telephoto lens I try to take pictures of the dolphins. The result: a lot of pictures of sea water. They are just too fast for me and my lens. But I’m lucky. Once I manage to guess correctly and get a photo of two dolphins (and a third one immersed).

27 August 2024

Originally we wanted to reach Svalbard one day later but a lot of things have been done faster without the presence of sea ice. Mooring recoveries are simpler, CTD casts are easier and so is the ship’s navigation – no search for leads needed. Therefore we will arrive one day earlier, which is today. While I’m having breakfast we are already in the fjord Isfjorden. At 9 o’clock we have arrived in the city port of Longyearbyen.

After lunch I leave the ship and stand on land again. I walk into town and go to Svalbardbutikken, the local supermarket. We still live on board and get our meals there, but I want to have chocolate! And I get it.

28 August 2024

We all have stayed on board overnight as well. The cabins are free (and paid) and so there is no need to find some expensive last-minute accommodation in Longyearbyen.

My plane to Tromsø will depart at 14:40. I interrupt my work and leave the ship once more to take some pictures. It is sunny again but Svalbard looks pretty brown and dirty in summer.

Then it was time to say good bye to the crew and the other participants. Car to the airport – checking in the baggage – security. And some hours later I sat in the airplane to Tromsø now leaving also Svalbard and the research ice breaker Kronprins Haakon behind.

When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
When the data work is done,
When the budget’s lost or won …

Spåret Sep 5 2024

After two weeks on the sea between Svalbard and Greenland I took the plane from Longyearbyen back to Tromsø and two days later the bus to Narvik and the train to Umeå. Since Sunday morning I have been in the familiar surroundings of my real home (“home home”) in Obbola again.

Two days ago I walked Spåret, a four kilometre promenade through the forests near us. It was warm and summery but also visible that Autumn has begun in parallel. What a contrast the forests are to the open ocean in the Fram Strait, the ice sheet near Greenland or the treeless valleys of Svalbard.

Norddeich/Norden Sep 12 2024

Annika and I were in Norddeich, the coastal district of Norden (“north”) in East Friesland, Germany the last days. The word “Norden” definitely qualifies that place for getting an article in my blog way-up-north.

Many streets of Norddeich have the theme “north” in their names. Am Nordkap (At the North Cape), Nordlandstraße (Northland street), Nordlichtstraße (Northern Light Street). Guess what, I like the names! Partly from my Scandinavian point of view, partly because I am from Northern Germany and therefore a “Nordlicht” (a nickname for people from Northern Germany) by myself.

Some photos from Tuesday, 10 September, the day of our arrival:

Yesterday on Wednesday, 11 September Annika and I rented e-bikes and took a cycle tour to Greetsiel. The weather was quite nasty for early September: strong gusty winds, hailstorms, cloudbursts and even a thunderstorm. And all that at temperatures around 10–11 °C. Kudos for the e-bikes! Without electrical motor support we wouldn’t have managed it against the wind.

It’s a long way to travel to Norden from our places. Round about 2800 km from Tromsø, my “work home” and still 1900 km from Obbola, my “home home”. But I think, I’ll visit Norddeich again some other time.

Back in Tromsø – an autumnal walk Sep 19 2024

After five weeks of travelling with just two intermediate days I have come back to my work home Tromsø two days ago. Now I’ll stay here for a while.

Yesterday I have started working in the office again and today I walked home from the lake Prestvannet to my apartment after work. That’s five kilometres. Weather and nature have been showing, that summer says farewell and the wind is strong enough to tear out some of the tree’s green leaves, too. From today on I’ll try to take a one-hour walk every day. Let’s see, how long I’ll keep up that habit.

Some photos from today. Just the iPhone and some editing in Lightroom.

Autumn forest, snowy mountains Sep 21 2024

When the temperature have dropped to 2–5 °C and the wind blows and it rains, rains, rains in Tromsø, then the season is a matter of altitude. In the lowlands it is autumn yet the mountains are covered with fresh, white snow.

Autumnal equinox 2024 Sep 22 2024

It is autumnal equinox, the beginning of autumn today. Despite of the unstable weather a friend of mine and I took a tour to Oldervik and took some photos. Yes, we got wet and the friend’s dog was not amused. The good thing about unstable weather: You have a good chance of interesting light situations and rainbows.

A chilly tour to the Steindalsbreen Sep 29 2024

Yesterday I took a hike to the Steindalsbreen together with my friend C. and her husky. I’ve been there last year at almost the same time of the year. The previous days of this year however have been colder. The mountains are coated with snow and the ground is covered with frost.

What I really love about this hike is the different landscapes you cross. First we follow the rising forest path.

We can see the river Gievdanjohka below. After a while the path leads back down until it meets the river.

We pass the cabin Steindalshytta, follow the path a bit further and the valley Gievdanvággi opens up to a broad U-shaped valley. Reindeer are grazing on one of the slopes. While we are taking a short break the sun vanishes behind a mountain. In an instant it gets colder and I put on a woollen cap and gloves.

After the break we continue the path. We ascend a stony slope and leave the birch trees behind. A quarter ago the landscape looked more like “The hills are alive ♩|♩🎵𝅗𝅥 …”, now it appears grey and harsh.

A harsh landscape (photo taken on the way back)

And then we get a great view on the glacier and the glacial lake in front. We continue until we reach the lake’s shore.

The lake is frozen. In the icy pattern on the surface the snowy mountains and small cumulus clouds are reflected.

On the northern side of the valley it is possible to pass the lake until we reach the glacier. It looks quite different then last year.

This year it is easier to walk around for taking photos, because the soft sand you can sink in is frozen. And creates its own visual world.

A small island in the frozen glacial lake

We take photos from the glacier and the surrounding landscape. I took the following two images from almost the same place. It is just two different directions. (For the photographers: the white balance it the same on the following two images.)

After a while we decide to return to the car. It will be eight more kilometres to go. The edge of the stony slope provides a view on the levels of the landscape. In the bottom the branching river in the shadow. Above the wooded hills, now in autumnal colours. In the background a chain of snow covered mountains. They are already on the other side of the fjord Storfjorden. At half past five we are at C.’s car.

I feel privileged that I may live in Tromsø and have such a gorgeous landscape within reach for a day trip like this.

Takk for turen C., thanks for the tour!

Appendix I

In the evening the sky was still clear. At a quarter to ten I went on the balcony of my rented apartment to check for polar lights. I was not disappointed and got my first aurora of the season. I just took a photo from the balcony.

Appendix II

Today I compared the tracks from last year’s and this year’s hikes to the glacier. The satellite imagery on the screenshots is old. I do not walk on glaciers without guide.

On both hikes I approached the glacier until I could touch it. The glacier is in the west (or left). You can clearly see that I came further west this year which means, that the glacier has shrunk within the last 12 month. Where will the glacier calve next year? In five years? In ten? When will it be gone? Depressing thoughts after a wonderful tour.

Four autumnal pictures Oct 4 2024

It is the first of October. The wind is blowing and it is raining against the large window panes of the Framsenteret, the building where the Norwegian Polar Institute is located.

Rain in autumnal Tromsø (seen from the Framsenteret)

After work I take the bus to the lake Prestvannet and walk home. That’s about 4 to 5 kilometres depending on which of the zillion routes you choose. I prefer the small paths. Rubber boots recommended. It is still raining anyhow it has become colder and more and more sleet mixes with the raindrops. When I cross one of the broader ways the sun peeks through the clouds creating a beautiful light. I really enjoy these walks home and do it twice a week.

The sun peeks through the cloud but still rain and sleet fall down

Today it is three days later. I wake up early and it is snowing, but the roads are dark and wet. After work I’m taking a smaller promenade through the neighbouring forest. Some patches of the morning snow have remained.

On the grass some morning snow has remained

My way back home leads along a small path over one of the bog. The grass is turning yellow and so are the birch trees. Some of them have lost there leaves. The mountain Tromsdalstinden in the background has been snow white for many days. And the weather is pretty fair. A good end of the workweek. Now it is weekend and guess what – it will rain tomorrow.

Bog, autumnal forest, and snowy Tromsdalstinden

Tamokdalen, Rostadalen, Dividalen Oct 9 2024

Sometimes the trains in Northern Sweden run and sometimes they don’t. Last weekend, when my wife Annika planned to travel from Obbola to Tromsø they didn’t. Anyhow she was lucky and got a lift for most of the distance ending in the town Bardufoss. That’s less than two hours from Tromsø so I fetched her from there.

Sunday morning my car was covered with ice flowers. I was very happy that I got my tyres changed two days ago. Now I have studded winter tyres and I feel ready for winterly road conditions.

On my way to Bardufoss I took a detour through the valley Tamokdalen and the side valleys Rautadalen and Dividalen. Still many trees were clad in colourful leaves but a bit higher there where white of snow.

In Dividalen the temperature dropped to -4 °C and the road in the shadow was icy. Thank you, winter tyres!

The valley Dividalen is long and I didn’t make it to the end. On my way back the sun began to set. I crossed the river Målselva that has some river isles and turned left to the main road.

One other stop for a bog covered with frozen grass and a hill with green pines and spruces and yellow birches.

One day later – Annika and I take a walk through the forests nearby. Nature here may be less impressive but I like it very much as well. Two photos with the same theme: autumn, meet winter. What luxury to have access to nature nearby but only two minutes to the next bus stop.

To Trollvassbu and back Oct 14 2024

Annika and I used last weekend to hike to the cabin Trollvassbu where we’ve been already in August this year. It’s just a bit more than five kilometres to walk, mostly through the forest. In the strong wind it took a long time to warm up the cabin and we were glad to have down sleeping bags with us. Next time we will go there it will be with skis.

Routine detox Oct 28 2024

#routinedetox

Are you a photographer? Do you know the feeling that you are stuck taking the same pics again and again? Without evolving? I know it for sure. So I decided to do a bit of “photo routine detox” here and there. This is the first detox session, shot on 20 October this year.

This session’s rules:

iPhone with a cheap plastic magnifier (hand held) only
macro in the forest
develop as b/w with an image ratio of 7:6
publish exactly four photos, if I like any or not

These are the results.

October snow in Tromsø Oct 31 2024

After a period of warmer weather it got colder the weekend and on Monday, 28 October it started to snow. After work I took the bus to the lake Prestvannet and walked home. Some snow showers passed through making the landscape brighter. Most small paths are still wet and some are pretty muddy but apart from that it looked so nice with the first cm of snow.

The next day more snow came at temperatures round zero. After work I walked back pretty the same route (there are zillions of small paths leading through the hilly forests and over some overgrown bogs.) New snow depth: 6–7 cm. That makes a difference, at least visually.

Yesterday I took the bus home, today I walked again. It is 31 October, the last day of the month. The temperature is slightly below freezing and the now snow is fluffy. New snow depth: 15 cm. As the days before I pass the lake Prestvannet that starts freezing over at the edges. It is fun to plunge through the snow but as long as I leave the main tracks – and I do – I’m still glad about my rubber boots because under the clean white blanket of snow there are the same mud puddles as three days before. On the broader gravel paths however the first people have started using their skis.

Fun fact: the photos #2, #7, and #15 show the same motive. From open swampy water to frozen and snowed over in three days.

Ski premiere 2024/25 Nov 3 2024

After the snowfall in the first half of the week …

… snowfall continued in the weekend.

Saturday, 2 November – walking

When I woke up yesterday morning another 10–15 cm of snow have fallen over night and it is still snowing. I get myself dressed, grab my camera backpack and go out. At the kindergarten I follow the way to the ski jumps. The light is still dim and I am quite alone. A strong wind gust blows snow from all trees and for some seconds snow is everywhere in the air.

I turn left and head to the small pond. The pair of Red-throated loons has left long ago and now the pond is frozen and covered in snow.

From there I cross the small grassy bog and follow some of the many forest paths.

I walked here quite a lot last summer but now that everything is covered in 25–30 cm of snow I miss some of the paths. That circumstance gave me wet feet quite soon. While trudging through the snow I suddenly felt my rubber boots sinking in something else. Seconds later I stood knee deep in a patch of mud. Brownish water eagerly filled my boots and the mud was so sticky, that it took me a minute to get free again. The rest of my walk I had wet and pretty cold feet. Back home I praised the inventor of the hot shower. (And that of the shoe dryer.)

Saturday, 2 November – jogging

Two hours later I go out again, this time to jog. I just have started again three weeks ago and I want to continue in wintertime as long it is possible. This time I stick to the “official” ways – some of them are already packed and groomed for cross-country skiers. Luckily you are allowed to bike or walk on the side of these tracks. It is fun to jog while it is snowing again. And my feet remained almost dry (just a bit of snow came into the Icebug winter running shoes).

Sunday, 3 November – skiing

This morning even more snow has fallen and I decide to take a ski tour. Not elsewhere but directly from home. I fetch my “fjellski” and poles from the shack and start my ski tour right from the entrance of my apartment. As the day before I pass the kindergarten and the small pond. The snow depth has grown to 45–50 cm and the skis sink in 20 cm with each step. Mostly I take those forest paths that are not too steep, but sometimes I follow the ski tracks where even I am as twice as fast.

Some more snow showers pass while I’m skiing cross-country. But then the sun comes out and colourises both sea and clouds deep orange. While I try to find a good spot to take a photo (I have my DSLR with me) the sun has begun to hide again. Photographer’s bad luck!

I pass the lake Rundvannet, while another snow shower approaches. No bathers today.

While I am heading back the sun comes out again, this time for longer. It is pretty low and soon disappears behind the mountains. In 3½ weeks polar night will start in Tromsø.

The huge ski jump of the Grønnåsen Ski Jump Center is a good landmark. Since it is on top of a hill it is visible from many places. Today I will climb up and finally ski down the ski jump to see how far I … well, just kidding.

From the ski jump it is only 800 metres back home. I ski the whole distance although I always feel uncomfortable skiing on the roads. The snow is so slippery there. After 7.5 kilometres – sometimes on tracks but mostly cross-country I am back home again.

Some hours later – 16:12. It is dark and another snow shower has approached. More snow! Anyhow it is only a temporary pleasure. Next week it will get much warmer and from Tuesday 78 mm of rain are expected for the next seen days. I guess the road conditions can be pretty ugly then. I am glad that I was outside in the “preview” of winter 2024/25. Let’s see when the next snow will arrive.

November thaw Nov 10 2024

It took only four days to melt away 47 cm of snow.

Last Sunday I used skis to glide over the snow in the forest. However, the forecast at yr showed already that this pleasure would be temporary. And yr was right. It became much warmer and rained a lot. My way home on Wednesday was wet and so was the jogging on Thursday.

On Monday the snow depth had been 47 cm. On Friday it was zero. Thaw and the amount of rain led to flooding and several roads and bridges were closed. In the forest and on the bogs it looked like autumn was back.

Today I took another promenade through the near forest and felt like being back in October regarding the weather. With a clear difference: Having this cloudy weather it is not longer bright outside anymore.

Sixteen more days and the polar night in Tromsø starts with the absence of the sun for the following seven weeks. The darker it gets the more I’m longing for snow. It makes everything brighter.

Back in Tromsø and it’s winter Dec 1 2024

When I worked in Tromsø on 20 November I took a snapshot through the window panes of the 5th floor. You could guess the sun between the mountains. It would be the last time I’d see the sun in Tromsø this year.

The next day I travelled to Germany to visit friends. I returned yesterday, 30 November and could see the sunset a bit north of Bergen from the airplane back to Tromsø.

In Tromsø we have polar night from 27 November until 14 January next year and it looks like this:

No, it doesn’t! Just kidding.

Polar night (the English term) does not mean, that it is dark all day. Only, that the sun won’t rise or set. The Norwegians – more affected than other countries – have two words. They call the polar night mørketid (darkness time) and reserve the term polarnatt (polar night) for the time where the sun is at more than six degrees below the horizon for the whole day. This applies only to places north of 72°33′ such as Bjørnøya or Svalbard.

Since it is not pitch-black I took a small ski promenade in the forests nearby. And so it looks like on a cloudy 1 December (-4 °C) on Tromsøya:

Ski promenade in Tromsø on 1 December II

Ski promenade in Tromsø on 1 December III

Ski promenade in Tromsø on 1 December IV

Home in Obbola – what to do outside Dec 13 2024

After quite some travelling in the last weeks I finally arrived in Obbola, Sweden, my “home home” yesterday night. Today it started snowing a bit and I wanted to go outside to take a break from home office.

I went to the coast by our house where parts of the bay were frozen.

I haven’t been running for four weeks, so let’s go …

… running!

I put on my running shoes from Icebug. They have so many spikes that you can run on bare ice. I start on the doorstep and turn to take the trail called Spåret. This will give me a lap of round 5 km. But it was not so easy as expected. A lot of trees lay across the trail. A reminder of the storm three weeks ago.

I can go round these obstacles but soon give up running for another reason. Some parts of Spåret are bare ice but the thin layer of fresh snow glues itself to the soles of my running shoes making the spikes useless. After I slid several times I decide to stop running and go home. Total running distance: 0.78 km :-D

When running does not work, let’s go …

… kayaking!

This takes a bit more preparation. But finally I have found the paddle and the waterproof bag for the mobile phone and am dressed in my survival suit – Teletubbie style.

I drag the kayak to the shore and then through the shallow water. Slushy ice is swimming on the sea surface. To my surprise another layer of ice is grounded.

Then I walk on the ice. Will it hold or break? I don’t know yet, but I do know, the water is shallow here.

The ice holds. When the icy layer gets thinner and softer I enter the kayak. Sometimes I use my hands to push myself forward, sometimes ice claws, sometimes the paddle. Anyhow it seems to take ages until I finally reach the open sea.

Finally: open water (and some ice slush)

To my surprise I meet two other kayakers. That have never happened to my here before. They found a better place to set in their kayaks. Will winter paddling get popular here?

Anyhow, I haven’t planned a longer kayak tour and so I only round the small islet Lillskär and then head back to shore. First there are soft ice floes that I can paddle through.

Then I reach some fast ice. It is too thick for paddling and too thin to bear the weight of the kayak with me inside. I exit the kayak and “walk” it while breaking the ice with my knees. The ice gets thicker and I can kneel on it without breaking through. Now I crawl on my knees for a while until I can finally stand up and drag the kayak ashore. On the photo you can see the different stages.

Finally I’m ashore again. Total paddling distance: 0.91 km. :-D :-D

But it was fun!