Signehavna, Regnardnesset, 14. juli breen, Magdelenefjorden

Today we have sailed through Forlandsundet, investigated three potential ports of refuge in Krossfjorden, two in Magdalenafjorden, one in Bjørnfjorden and in about three hours we will reach the last one for today. Magdalenefjorden is one of the most visited places on Svalbard, approximately 22.000 tourists every year. Per Kyrre Reimert from Sysselmannen is like a live history book, and tells us short but facinating stories about each location. There has been whalers and seal hunters since the 16th century at Svalbard. For each port it has been discussed how large vessels are possible to anchor up, is it possible to close the area with oil retention systems, are there any special sea animals or birds that uses the area for certain times of the year, what's the typical weather and ice conditions, cultural monuments, tourist attractions, navigational considerations, and last but not least, available communication infrastructure. Actually, most systems, including VSAT but excluding mobile GSM, worked rather well all the way up to Magdalenefjorden. Although, at the farther end of Krossfjorden we had only MF/HF and Iridium coverage. This is also the case from Magdelenafjorden and northwards. I have installed an Iridium OpenPort terminal on the vessel, and this terminal seems to work rather well, except for a few dropouts and it has low bandwidth capacity, so that's why you don't see any pictures on the blog today!

Rakel was a lucky girl today; she joined a team on a lightweight boat ("Sjøbjørn") to measure sea depths in Gullyfjorden. Rakel is 29 years old, from Mosjøen, living in Honningsvåg, working for the Norwegian Coastal Administration where she's responsible for the development of ports of refuge in Troms and Finnmark. On this trip to Svalbard she's responsible for taking photographs, register them with time, position and heading. She will also participate in conflict analyses. Like me she's fascinated of Svalbard and we both sincerely believe we have the best job in the world :-)

The work done on this trip is a part of the MarSafe North project, where MARINTEK is project manager, Kongsberg Seatex AS is prime contractor/project responsible, and the Norwegian Coastal Administration is the leader of work package 5 which includes the activities of port refuge at Svalbard. The main objective of MarSafe North is to identify the user requirements and technological possibilities to be able to perform safe and efficient operations in the High North. Take a look at www.sintef.no/marsafe for more information.

We are now approaching the last port of refuge for the day, so I have to go. That's all from KV Svalbard tonight, have a nice evening everyone at home :-)

KV Svalbard was even more delayed than firstly assumed because they had to assist a fishing vessel next to Bjørnøya. Instead we used the day at the Sysselmannen, discussing how to approach the port of refuge, and work procedures. As you can see from the picture; still happy and in a good mood :-) From left: John Morten Klingsheim (Norwegian Coastal Administration - NCA), Rakel Hagen Olsen (NCA), Tore Vedvik (pilot), Ingrid Lauvrak (NCA), Morten Ekker (Direktoratet for naturforvaltning), Halvard Pedersen (Sysselmannen), Per Kyrre Reimert (Sysselmannen). Dag Vongraven (Norsk Polarinstitutt) was "out of office" when this picture was taken, I promise to add a picture of him later on.


Around 21.15 we received a phone call from KV Svalbard, and we could finally go to Longyearbyen harbour! The evening and night was used for safety instructions and installations. Tests will start tomorrow morning.

Day 1

Finally, the day has arrived when I could go to Svalbard and Longyearbyen again. Look at the picture, this was taken at 23.30! The light is amazing, and we had a clear view while approaching the airport. With some assistance from helpful people and the bus driver I managed to get my heavy boxes loaded with test equipment and warm clothings on the airport bus, and reached hotel Radisson Blu Spitsbergen just in time to get some midnight snack :-) Taking off the shoes by the front door before entering the warm and cozy lobby makes it feel very homy! After a few minutes the "boss himself" showed up, John Morten Klingsheim from the Norwegian Coastal Administration. He has been here for one day already, preparing the voyage. KV Svalbard is a bit delayed, and we will probably not be able to start the sailings before 20.00 tomorrow evening. Instead we will use the day at Sysselmannen, and plan further activities. Tomorrow I will also add to the blog a description of why we are here! Now I have to try to ignore the daylight and get some sleep, it's 02.07. Sweet dreams everyone at home :-)