28th of June

This blog was originally posted on the Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic Blog on July 3, 2014.

by Alexandar Vujadinovic and Kyle Morrison

This day we went up the glacier Storglaciären, for which the Tarfala Research Station has the world’s longest continuous record of glacial mass balance data.

There were also some researchers with us, partially to guide us and show a safe path, but also to collect data. Before going up the glacier, our course instructors made sure that everyone had their harnesses on – this would make rescue much easier in case anyone of us fell through a glacial crevasse. The glacier was covered with a thick layer of snow, and some parts were quite exhausting to climb. During the ascent, we were constantly reminded of the dangers associated with glaciers, and that one always should be careful despite the fact that they might look safe. We stopped at the site of an automated weather station to have lunch and relax, although the team of scientists that were with us continued further.

A helicopter circled around us and the mountain Kebnekaise – we later found out that it carried another team of researchers to Tarfala, and that they had decided to take a detour so they could get a good overview of the area that they were going to stay at.

Posted in: Alexandar Vujadinovic,Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic,Kyle Morrison