Working, waiting, moving and polarbears!

Spitsbergen (or Svalbard, whatever you fancy) is not such an easy place to work as a scientist, that's at least what we have found out in the last week. Materials and shipments seems to be always in delay. And that one item you forgot to take with you on you're journey is the one you need the most...

This is regarding to my (Ben) experiments, the parcel that left the Netherlands 2 weeks ago was to be delivered on the 11th of July from the cargoship that provides the village with it's monthly supplies. Luckily the ship arrived, but my "stuff" is stuck in Tromsø, why is not clear but after a lot of phonecalls, Emails and money my parcel should be on it's way now...for real this time!

Being busy in the lab creates a messs

Despite the lack of materials the tests concerning the efficiency of Ballastwater biocides starts today, tough with another biocide and a lot of improvising, but that is the way things go in the Arctic. If all is going as planned the parcel will arrive on monday which will make things a lot easier.

But writing a sad  story in Ny-Alesund is impossible, too many good things happen! As I mentioned earlier, the supply-vessel arrived! This means that fresh fruit, meat, veggies and ofcourse toilet paper are once again abundant in the most Northern village! Dinner has always been excellent but some small things are only served when the ship has visited town, making dinner even better!

London 2, moved towards it's new location

Don't worry, we won't come back 10 kilo's heavier, that's because we work so hard! Ariadna's experiment is going as planned. One of her objectives is to gather as much organisms as possible and to sent them to Holland for further analysis, this is scheduled for next week and it will take quite some while to gather the goods. This week it is vital to keep on checking the water quality that is used for her tests.

This week London 2, one of the 4 "english style" houses was removed from it's location and put 10 metres further in the street. The building is being renovated and that is quite a task, lifting a house is not something you see daily but it does make good pictures! The placement is only for a short while, when the foundation has been renovated it will be located back again.

London 2, still at it's original location 

To finish for today, at around midnight two polar bears where spotted on a small island near the village, after a short swim they came ashore and walked towards the village to have a look around. But then the watchmen arrived and scared them off.. Those guys really deserve the name "Watchmen" since we slept trough the night and didn't hear a thing....