June 21 was the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere - midwinter, the shortest day of the year. At Antarctic stations, people celebrated the middle of their polar night: halfway to the welcome return of the Sun. In Canberra, it was a cold sunny winter day, and I was busy preparing to travel. Two days later, I was standing in the midnight sun in the high arctic: the islands of Svalbard far to the north of Norway. Here, the Sun won't set below the horizon until September.
I've come to the arctic for two reasons: in August, I'll be doing some geology field work in southern Greenland, a joint project between Swedish and Australian scientists. But before that, I've taken some time away from university work. What does a polar scientist do with his holidays? You won't find me lying on a tropical beach! I'll spend five weeks leading small tourist groups around these arctic islands, working on an old sailing ship, the Noorderlicht.
Like writing this blog, taking tourists into the arctic is a way of sharing my enthusiasm for science and nature. And at the same time, I enjoy travelling in the wilderness on an old-fashioned sailing ship.
Svalbard is a fascinating archipelago; a group of islands about 300 km long, only 1000 km from the North Pole. Half of the land area is covered by glaciers, and in winter the islands are completely surrounded by frozen ocean. In summer, vast numbers of birds come to breed here, joining the polar bears, reindeer and arctic foxes which stay all winter. The plants and animals are wonderfully adapted for life in a cold climate.
There is also an interesting human history: after the islands were discovered in 1596, they were the site of the first commercial whaling. Between 1620 and 1800, almost all the whales in the north Atlantic were killed, for the oil in their their blubber. After the whales, people hunted the Arctic Fox and Polar Bears for their beautiful fur. And in the 20th century, there were attempts to mine gold, iron, marble, coal, and other minerals, almost all of which failed. It was also visited by many arctic explorers, including several attempts to reach the north pole.
Today, there is still some coal mining, but most people come to Svalbard to see wilderness and nature, relatively untouched by civilisation. We have just finished one ten-day sailing voyage, and leave tomorrow for another. In the next posting, I'll describe some of the things we see and do along the way.
From the far north,
Dan
