Svalbard 2009: My first couple of days

This Weekend's Field Trip

This weekend was our big outing. There must have been a huge part of the budget set aside for it! We went by Zodiac, those red boats that are somewhat inflatable. It took about 2 hours to get there. Riding in them is pretty fun. Then, we took a hike as soon as we got there focusing on the geology. I woke up Saturday morning feeling pretty crappy with my cold, so I really tried to force myself to take pictures although I was too sick to care :) Sunday we went to see the instruments they have set up around the area measuring temperatures and what not. I didn't take many pictures there either (are you seeing a pattern?). Plus, it's hard to take pictures when its less than 30 degrees, windy, and raining and you can't breathe and your fingers are frozen. Then, we went to Barentsburg, the Russian settlement here. It was disgusting and I was feeling really run down and knew that when we were done there we were going back to town and I couldn't wait, but I tried to get some photos. I'll get every else's before I leave to fill in all the places where I didn't care ;)

During WWII, Longyearbyen was highly contested for because they have incredibly accurate weather stations here. So, at one point, the Germans sent 1000 troops and two huge battleships up the harbor to take the town of about 100. Afterwards, the British were pretty mad and started bombing the airfields the Germans set up and took back the town. This is a German plane that was sitting by the river and the British bombed it. Because it is older than 1947, it is protected under their cultural heritage act and can't be moved or touched. Although kindof ugly, they are thankful for the "natural" sediment trap :)

"Field Work"

This is where we spent the afternoon. These lobes of dirt and rocks are from avalanches that pulled all the material down. You can see at the top of the cliffs overhanging snow, called cornices. They break off and pull all the snow behind and around it as well as the rocks below it down the slope. Last winter they had a major avalanche that crossed the road - there's even a snowbank left from it still (I'm standing on the road). The town decided to blast the rest of the cornices to avoid any others but the drills they used to plant the dynamite set off an even bigger avalanche than the first one. The pictures they had were pretty amazing. Maybe I can get my hands on them.

This store is called 78 degrees north. They advertise being tax-free because the sales tax on mainland Norway is 25%. So, it's a big deal not to have sales tax! You can also see the piling that all of the buildings are on. Most of the stores on main street appear to be on ground level, but they've actual dug out underneath the buildings and put the piling under there. I guess it looks better, although the metal grates that you walk over to get into the shops are kindof rickety and pretty high off the ground.