Now where was I... initiation?

So, I am behind, but first a word about the team building that was.... initiation!  In an elaborate ceremony, we were given our task.  To create new lyrics for and perform to one of two songs by a Norwegian band, see links for our choices:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFYXP19e5KM
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEJGk8qfAgI
We chose the second one.  It was a true team building process, and the lyrics will never be revealed in public :-)  Nor will the pictures, however, I can put one or two up from the party afterwards, held by the Ny Alesund community:

Oslo by night - interlude

Ok, I am all out of order here - but let me say:

If you want to go where "everybody knows your name" (I wonder who is too young for a Cheers reference) then always know that no matter what country you are in, an Irish pub is an Irish pub.  On the way home from my late dinner (I decided I needed an 8:15-9:00 PM nap) I saw that there was a live band playing in the Irish pub on the street to my hotel and I could not resist paying the $80 kroner (~$16) to go in.  Who can resist an Irish pub, with live music???  There I met John, Roger, Maya, Desiree, and... er... I don't remember his name.  i got there around 11:15 PM intending to only spend an hour at very most, but the band was good, the company fun, and I stayed until 2:15ish.  I love hearing live Irish music, seeing people so damn happy dancing around to it.  So I made new friends and I am pleased with my independent self.  However, no pictures were taken, and since I am a visual person I feel remiss.  I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, particularly in the realm of helicopter rides, and, more importantly, initiation!!!  So, I should leave you at least with a lasting visual image - here, let me dig one up:

This is the most incredible view of the mountain as we came out of our newbie conspiring session around 1:30 AM.  

Glacier boat trip

Boat trip to local glaciers.  We couldn't get as close as the previous day, but it was still beautiful.

Ice berg and rocks

Ice Cave in glacier

Contemplating the glaciers....

Nearly a perfect sunset, except the sun never sets.

Men in Black pictures

Heading off to initiation, which promises to be a disaster!  Embarrassment for both the newbies and the oldies is imminent.  But first, check out our MiB pics!

The whole team.  Yes, that is an ice pick I am carrying.

The Goddard Girls!

A little closer

On standby for helicopter... again!

The friendly neighborhood Reindeer

Snow in August!

I have not been so great about updates.  Much has happened, it snowed here (big time, several inches), but it has melted by now.  It must be 55-60 out, its been a beautiful day.  However, I have not made it into the field yet.  Three times now I've been prepped to go out on the helicopter (we go in teams of 4) but Monday and Tuesday found the weather very poor for flying.  The pilots fly by sight, so its very important that they not take risks in clouds.  So Tuesday several of us hiked to a glacier to get some samples of algae that live on snow.  It ended up being a 7 hour trip.  The actual walking time was only about 2 hrs each direction, but there was a long stop for sampling and many little stops on the way back for people to ooo and ah at flora and fauna.  Still, its frustrating to not get to see the sites that the samples we working on come from, geological context is important.  I could be doing the work I do in the lab here at home.  Its the field that this is all about.

Little glacial stream

Yesterday was quite exciting, too.  We had an electrical malfunction that blew two circuits.  When we got to the bottom on the problem, it was a crappy surge protector that had melted down.  In the end, the only casualty was my baritron, which monitors pressure in my vacuum system, but believe it or not I can still run without it, making sure I pump a long time on the system and hoping there are no leaks :-)  It was quite scary though, hearing the snap crackle pop of electric current and smelling that awful burnt ozone smell.

Tonight is apparently "initiation," an AMASE ritual that in the past has involved making the newbies do anything from breakdancing to making up limericks.  We'll see what happens!

View from glacier, look at that geology!

On the glacier, sun changing position, circling the sky.

Y

Some of our team, no doubt looking off into the distance for polar bears.

Dave, a photographer and one of our safety people, on polar bear patrol.

Once again, 5-6 hours of sleep expected.

So I really should not be updating.  But let me do so anyway!  The first few days here were pretty busy.  Setting up instruments in the lab, learning to shoot, and taking and intro hike. Let me 'splain.  No, there is too much.  Let me sum up.

Ny Alesund - first impressions

We land, and exit the plane.  Super strong winds.  A vehicle comes to pick us up at the airport... which really has no actual buildings but maybe there's an antenna (other than the enormous scientific one).  We get in the Eurobus and in 5 minutes are dropped off at 'reception' at the mess hall, where we are given keys with room and building #'s.  I expected to be sharing a room with fellow NASA Goddardites, but no dice, we are spread out and no one  is sharing a room.  Instant isolation.  These two pics were taken by Inge.  They show the surrounding mountains and glaciers.

Goodbye Oslo, Hello Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway

Spitsbergen Radisson Hotel in Longyearbyen

I was awakened the next morning by the wake up call we had ordered, but in reaching for the phone, managed to surf the IKEA bed-top padding onto the floor, groping for the receiver.  Yes, I am awake.  We then headed across the street to the airport (the cost of the hotel was worth it for the convenient location) and tried to figure out how to check in... we discovered we somehow had business class tickets, the only advantage of which was that it allowed us to avoid the cattle car line and check in right away.  Which was a good thing, as when we reached the gate, they were boarding.

The lap of luxury

The flight was 4+ hours with a quick stop in Tromso, a very northern city in Norway.  Incredible view as we landed, but someone else had the window seat and I didn't feel like trying to sit in their lap to get pictures.  We got out of the plane and entered the small airport, and started to see some familiar faces of others I knew would be on the expedition.  This is my first year, but Amy knew everyone, and I know quite a few folks from Carnegie Institute of Washington, where the PI who heads the expedition comes from.  We hopped on a bus and paid $10 to drive 2ish miles to the Spitsbergen Radisson Hotel.  The hotel was apparently lavish compared to the few other accommodations in town, and even had completely unreliable wireless internet, which I used to contact Rob in desperation to call USair to ask where our luggage was.  Luckily I at least had extra undies and an extra pair of jeans, but the one pair of socks and liners and lack of long sleeved shirts sort of sucked.  Thankfully I had my rain/wind shell and a light fleece, too, or it would have sucked.

Glacial Runoff

Once we settled in, we went to explore the town, which had one main street.  We went to the Boutiken, i.e. the grocery/drug store/electronics store/jewelry store/general one-stop-shopping, for a European hairdryer for me and other provisions.  Then we went to a cafe for coffee and a sandwich.  Note to self - those little pellets they use as sweetener are REALLY sweet.  Then we took a walk to another place people were staying, crossing this glacial runoff stream.  I kept looking around in amazement as the sun continued to not set and the mountains loomed, snow on their tops.  You could also see many visible remnants of the mining industry (coal) that still takes place in 2 other parts of the island.

Later we all met up for dinner/drinks (pizza/beer) in the bar at the hotel.  The bars here they keep very very dark, due to the fact that the sun is always shining, and something about sunshine discourages mass consumption of alcoholic beverages at bars.  We all shared stories of luggage lost (very common) and when we left around midnight it was bizarre to still have full daylight.  I took some drunken pictures, mostly of the sky and landscape (not shown).  The next day we went shopping for last minute stuff, knowing we would not get a chance again.  I bought a hat, a watch, and a sleeping mask.  All the while i was stressing about the luggage, which Rob sid would come to the airport just as we were leaving on the charter flight to the research community of Ny Alesund.  I was impatient and got an earlier ride to the airport just so I could make sure the bags were they.  Yay!  They were!  Clean socks!  But I had to say goodbye to the luggage again while they loaded it on the tiny plane to Ny Alesund.  As there were almost 30 of us, it was necessary to take 2 flights (~30 min) to get everyone there.  But the weather was sketchy, so the times kept changing.  Finally we hopped in this prop plane.... uh oh, had to work on the instument... but here is a pic!

Catching up

Its a week into the AMASE (Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition) but I am remiss in creating a blog.  I want to share more than Facebook soundbites about this trip, I've been waiting for this for months, and I want to actually have a record of this.  Most of the time, I will be working on 5 hours of sleep, and my writing will lack panache for sure, but hey, that's life.  I lost all my creative writing skills when I became a scientist ;-)

Yes, it really is that far north.

So, I will try to summarize the trip so far, starting with arrival in Oslo at 10 AM to find our luggage had not made it with us.  There is a black hole in Philadelphia, where luggage gets eaten.  The plan was to stay the night in Oslo at the airport hotel anyway, so we decided to head downtown and try to buy some long sleeved shirts in case the luggage did not come.  I knew that when we reached our final destination, Ny Alesund, the northernmost settlement in the world, I had clothes waiting for me, but between Oslo and Ny Alesund was a stop in Longyearbyen, the only town in Svalbard, and it would be cold.  Svalbard, by the way, is a remote island that is part of Norway, in the same way Hawaii is part of the US.  The mainland of Norway is about 4 hours away by plane from Svalbard.  Check it out on Google earth.  Its truly arctic.

Leffe all the way.  If I look exhausted, that's because I am.  

We needed something warm to tide us over, so  we took the train into Oslo (~$30 and 20 min) after our ~$40 caesar salads with chicken for luch.  Yes, Norway is expensive.  Even though we were exhausted, we fought jetlag (dusk coming around 10:30 helped this).  We made a fruitless search in two shopping centers for outdoor gear, settling on cotton long sleeved shirts.  Better than nothing.  There were some great outdoor beer gardens but we wanted a full meal, even if it cost a fortune, so headed to the harbor.  We had a nice dinner along the harbor (Duvel and mussels) and made it back to the hotel by 11 PM, exhausted and ready for bed.

I was fascinated by this sign.

It was all lit up at night and kept changing colors.

All of the old buildings were lit up like this one.

This crazy truck was at the harbor.

With the flash, it lit up.  Instant neon.