Ice Edge-Svalbard 2007

Last Post for a while

iceedge — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 11:08:28 +0000

Sorry about the last post we had to rush. This is going to be ther last post for a while. We are now so far north that internet connectivity for anything other than basic test is not possible.

We are having a great time, students are all fantastic.

Check out the BBC website as this has just been updated

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast/6261114.stm

We will post when we can.

Richard

Safety in Polar Regions, Day 2

iceedge — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 05:33:15 +0000

Safety on any trip is always the first concern and never more important than in a potentilly hostile environment such as where we are now.

Vist to Worlds Largest Satellite Tracking Station

iceedge — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 05:21:14 +0000

Day one saw use all venturing up the screw sided hills, most on the snow has gone this time of year, to visit the largest satellite tracking station, and the most northern, in the world. We we given a fascinating talk about the centre and its work. A commercial station they work for organisation such as NASA, ESA, Coast Guards and private companies. By International treaty there is no military work carried out. The station tracks satellites with polar orbits.

One of the stations jobs is to track oil slicks from ships, many of them the result of illegal actions rather than accident. There are many such incidents on a daily basis. Coast guards are informed and ever effort if made to catch the culprits.

We visited the antennae, safely located under large white domes that proctect them from the weather. We have a short clip of them which we will try to post up as soon as we can, bandwidth permitting.

After that it was down to the town to take a look at the shops, there are not that many!

The Journey Over

iceedge — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 05:01:41 +0000

It was a very long day. We all met Heathrow airport all in good time except fro one group who had coach problems on the way down. We expected delays with all the security but the airport was relatively quiet and with the help of the very kind and efficient SAS staff we were through to airside without delay.

Three flights later, stopping at Oslo and Tromsowe arrived at our destination Longyearbyen on the Norwegien island of Svalbard. It was 2am and the first thing that hit use was that it was as light at that time as it is at midday in the UK. It takes a bit of getting used to.

After about 3 hours sleep we were up and raring to go, well most of us.

Sorry about the delay!

iceedge — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 04:53:24 +0000

Sorry that we are a little behind updating this blog. Things have been a little busy since we arrived. The programe is very full and al our computers are in constant use with students updating their own blogs, send emails, downloading picturs and video blogs.

Check out the links to the winners blogs, they are working very hard on them.

Richard

Ice Edge podcasts

iceedge — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:34:26 +0000

We hope to be recording podcasts, these can be found at:

http://web.mac.com/iceedge/iWeb/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html

Usin a programme such as iTunes you can click on subscribe to atomatically receive the lastest installment.

Ice Edge Trip

iceedge — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:42:50 +0000

Welcome to this blog which has been set up for the Ice Edge Trip to Svalbard.

Twelve teams of young people, winners of a national competition, will be traveling to the fragile environment of Svalbard, a group of Norwegian islands located at the edge of the Polar Ocean. During the 10 day trip we will be travelling by ship to the wild animal sanctuaries on the north of the island, working with the university of Norway on environmental projects and enjoying the social and cultural life of Svalbard including dog sledging.

The trip starts on the 4th of July

We will be updating this blog regularly including photos and video diaries, so come back and see how we are getting on.