During the course, students learned about Arctic glaciers and melt season dynamics, and engaged first-hand with the topics via field trips. After a few introductory lectures at the university, we spent most of our time in the field investigating and studying different glaciers and proglacial areas.

Fieldwork in the Arctic takes place under special conditions. Besides the dangers of rugged terrain coupled with frigid water and air, one must also be aware of polar bears across the island. Therefore, we underwent an intense two-day Arctic safety training prior to the course and short safety briefings before each excursion. Since it was Polar Day and thus permanently bright, there was no need to worry about darkness during our trips.

The course was very exciting. We learned a lot out in the field and had very knowledgeable professors teaching us. Besides general knowledge about the cryosphere on Spitsbergen, we were also taught about the local impacts of climate change. It was alarming to learn how fast the processes are changing and how strong the impacts are. A few years ago, the fjord was frozen in winter and could be crossed with snowmobiles. This is not the case anymore, as it is now too warm. Many glaciers have lost a lot of mass – some are only fractions of their previous size. Mean summer and winter temperatures have increased considerably and precipitation patterns have been increasingly switching to rainfall instead of snowfall. Now, the melt starts earlier, and water freezes up later. Nevertheless, there were still some very large and well-preserved glaciers. It was impressive to see them and to do our fieldwork there.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to take part in this experience and study in the Arctic, surrounded by such a fascinating landscape and its incredible wildlife. I was lucky enough to observe a lot of Svalbard´s wildlife. Besides four polar bears (fortunately from a distance), I saw many Svalbard reindeer, Arctic foxes, and birds. On various boat trips, I observed minke, beluga, and fin whales – sometimes in overwhelming large groups.

If you are interested and would like to learn more about UNIS, click here. To learn more about Svalbard, click here.

The photos in this post have been kindly shared with us by the author, Karina Krapf.

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Research expeditions are always a good way to get in touch with other scientists and research topics. We shared the ship with a group studying microplastics from the University of Aalborg. It was exciting to learn from my colleagues and to get to know the methods in microplastics research. The research field of my working group was toxic phytoplankton. Harmful algal blooms can pose a health risk when the toxins pass through the food chain and contaminate our seafood. We took water samples, harvested the microalgae, and extracted their toxins for later analysis at the institute.

Working on a ship can be very challenging depending on the sea conditions. In the fjord, the waters were rather calm. However, on the last day when we navigated a transect into the Baltic Sea, some scientists got seasick and could not work. Even though the working days were very long, we often had good conversations and scientific exchange in the evenings. Sometimes there was enough time left to go swimming in the fjord close to the station. This expedition was a great experience and very exciting.

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