16 July 2008 Hooray – we’re leaving!

Our lectures today had us chomping at the bit to get out of town since we saw pictures of the study location, the field equipment and the data from previous years. Al provided us with a terrific talk on the types of data we can gather, and in a discussion on the lake sediments posed a number of challenging questions about our study location. The lake sediments settle in layers called varves, where each double layer is considered one year. Theoretically there should be a light colored layer of coarse material from the spring when the glacier produces a lot of meltwater, and a dark layer from the rest of the year created by clay particles that have either settled on the frozen lake and sank when the ice melted or have been transported by wind or the meltwater. In reality layers are usually discernable, but sometimes they are not always clearly defined. So Al asked for possible explanations for this lack of uniformity in the layering of the varves. It generated a great discussion to start us thinking about the interplay between the geology and the climate system in Lake Linne.

After an afternoon to ourselves to get caught up with computer work and errands we made our way to UNIS Logistics to start our journey to Kapp Linne. Logistics provided us with dry suits (hooray!!) and loaded us up for a trip to the dock. They had already taken our gear, Mike, and Anthony to Kapp Linne earlier in the day, and so our load was a little lighter. We packed the last of our belongings on two Zodiac boats, slipped into our dry suits and away we went!

We made a left (east!) out of Adventfjorden onto Isfjorden, and Kapp Linne was at the end of the fjord. The trip there was a glaciologist's dream! We saw glaciers meeting the sea, high ridges carved from the glaciers, the bowl shaped cirques, etc, and of course the fjord itself was carved by a glacier! Just as we approached our destination we saw our glaciated valley - Linne Valley! We couldn't wait to get there! After an hour on the boat we were on Kapp Linne at Isfjord Radio.

We unloaded the boats, removed our dry suits, and began making ourselves at home. Basecamp Explorer is our host here and they have provided us with access to garages to store our equipment, very comfortable housing, and someone to cook our meals. It was a long day, but after a terrific first dinner in our new home, we went to sleep as happy campers!

Task of the day: Go back to your map or globe and find us at our new home!