I think Svalbard might be a place where people talk about the weather as much as in the UK, perhaps even more. Up here it really makes a huge difference and changes incredibly fast. Today started off as a lovely sunny spring-feeling morning. By lunch time it was feeling a bit damp and rainy, let’s… Read More
12th June – Into the mountain
We log in via the visitors book, pass the security guy, don hard hats with the Statsbygg logo (the state construction arm of the Norwegian government) and file into the dank corridor (which must be the bit outside the mountain) and through the second metal door that has been unlocked for us. We descend as… Read More
11th June – Messy Methodologies
Messiness is something that most of us are brought up to avoid, and certainly as a quality not particularly revered. At some point I realised that, for the most part, I am a ‘messy’ kind of person: messy room/office/desk; messy thoughts/ideas/approaches; messy hair…. Whilst I enjoy a good clean up of all these things occasionally,… Read More
10th June – Gratulerer med dagen Longyearbyen!
Happy Birthday Longyearbyen, 108 today! Today is Longyearbyen Day, which has been celebrated since it’s centenary in 2006. To mark the day there were a few historical things going on, which I attempted to join in with. Longyearbyen has certainly seen a lot of changes in it’s relatively short lifetime (a quick version from the… Read More
9th June – Ducks that don’t quack
Mondays seem to be email and organise days for me, but on a foray into the fresh air, I thought I would try and get some more interesting noises to share. It always seems to surprise me that different places can sound so different, I’m not sure why it is surprising, but unfamiliar animal noises… Read More
7th June – Getting out
Bit of an extended post today since I have skipped a couple…. Staying here in Longyearbyen for any length of time, people start to become concerned that you manage to find your way out of town and experience some of ‘the nature’ here. Though Longyearbyen has just about everything one needs, after a few weeks,… Read More
6th June – Sounds of snow
I have a proper update in process, but in the meantime, I thought I would share some of the sounds of yesterday up on Foxfonna glacier….but my trusty phone that has been a very reliable tool so far in all my audio recordings didn’t pick it up. It was too much to ask perhaps, given… Read More
4th June – sunscapes
It’s been all go this week with interviews, so much so, there wasn’t even time for a blog post yesterday. I think that’s a good excuse for a double photographic bill today. This week art, photography and relationship to the landscape and species of Svalbard has featured quite strongly in discussions so far. Today the… Read More
2nd June – It’s good to talk
Today the internet and mobile network was out for a few hours. It doesn’t sound drastic, and it wasn’t. Not really. It did stop me in my tracks for a while though. This phenomenon is becoming more and more rare and it’s amazing how much we rely on staying connected. I was going to check… Read More
1st June – Chance encounters
Today I met someone who just picked up an email I sent months ago when I was looking for somewhere to stay in Svalbard. We are, hopefully, going to help each other out on our respective research projects, and it’s going to be great 🙂 These are the kind of things that often get left… Read More
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