UNIS Student Exercises, 1999-2000

Postscript, including the 2000 UNIS exercise

I returned to Longyearbyen the following summer to attend a meeting aimed at fostering US/Norwegian cooperation in polar science. A number of Office of Polar Programs people were there representing NSF. In addition, US congressman James Sensenbrenner attended, along with a high ranking Norwegian official. The upshot was an agreement (MOU?) between American and Norwegian agencies to cooperate in Arctic science. This worked out well for me. I was able to propose and acquire funding for myself and other US scientists (Morison, Wettlaufer) to collaborate with scientists from Norway, Great Britain, and Germany on problems that could be addressed by working in Svalbard fjords. That work was slated to begin in 2001.

The following April, 2000, I was back in Longyear to continue with teaching at UNIS and contributing equipment and expertise with the field work. That year the program was directed by Tor Gammalsrød, another Norwegian researcher whom I knew from previous MIZEX work. The field exercise took place on Van Mijen Fjord, south of Longyear. We stayed at a hut called Pluto, perhaps because it seemed pretty remote. The 2000 field work was later in the spring, which often meant fog. One evening as we were scootering back to Pluto from our measurement site near the center of the fjord, I foolishly got into a race with Tor. What I forgot was that sometime previously an icebreaker had made its way into Svea at the far end of the fjord and left a significant ridge where the ice had refrozen. It was hidden in the fog and I hit it hard, throwing myself and a Russian student off our sled. Fortunately neither she nor I was hurt-- lesson learned the hard way.

There were some very bright students in that group, which made the class sessions rewarding. One, a German student named Dirk Notz, stood out. In addition to the class work, it was obvious that he very much enjoyed the field work. Later, when Dirk was doing graduate work at the University of Hamburg, he contacted me about advising him on a master thesis project, I was glad to agree. Prompted by measurements that Arne Hanson had made at AIDJEX in 1976, Gary Maykut and I had often casually discussed formation and migration of "false bottoms" that form under concavities in the underside of pack ice during summer: it seemed an interesting problem not well understood. I got him invited to spend time at the Polar Science Center in Seattle. There he paired up with Grae Worster, who was on sabbatical from Cambridge University, to investigate ice growth and properties. Using the the concept of differential diffusion of heat and salt at the ice/seawater interface (which Grae and Dirk were investigating), we came up with a rather elegant solution for false bottom formation and migration, in the process demonstrating that it could have significant impact on summer melt of the ice pack.

Dirk continued on to get his PhD with Grae, and has become a true leader in the polar aspects of climate science. He worked with me in several later projects, which was always a pleasure.

During the 2000 visit, I was invited to dinner along with members of the UNIS faculty at the home of an older professor, highly respected for his work in both the Arctic an Antarctic. As part of a lively dinner conversation, I recounted a story about our return to Longyear after six weeks at the CEAREX O-Camp in '89. Our cook at the camp, Tony Parra, had served a memorable lunch to the Sysselman when he had flown out to inspect the station (all of Tony's meals were memorable-- we joked at the time that one could tell when it was lunchtime by the sound of the incoming Twin Otter!). As he got aboard to return, the Sysselman told Tony to call on him if there was anything he needed in Svalbard. When we returned to Longyear weeks later after closing O-Camp, it was Sunday which meant that liquor was not available for sale. This qualified as an emergency, so Tony called, and sure enough, a case of beer was waiting on the porch of the Sysselman's residence. I noted that shortly after I had finished my story, our dinner host had slipped out. When he returned, he was a accompanied by Ulf Sigerness, who had been the helo mechanic at O-Camp. Obviously the story had made its rounds previously. I had got to know Ulf on the ice camp and much enjoyed his company there. Thus in 2000 we reconnected, and in the following years I would often get together with him and his son Fred to catch up over a beer when I was in town. Fred is a scientist studying aurora as a faculty member at UNIS.

I returned to teach during the spring every year through 2014. The experience was always rewarding, fostering many good friendships and connections with the Norwegian polar science community. In addition to Dirk, I advised and mentored three students who obtained Doctorates from the University of Bergen: Anders Sirevaag, Karolina Widell, and Algot Petersen, all of whom also went through the Air-Ice-Ocean course at UNIS.

In more than three decades since my first visit, I saw Longyearbyen evolve from a gritty coal mining community into an academic center drawing talent from all over the world. Surrounded by breathtaking scenery, it has also become a burgeoning tourist destination. Svalbard rates high with me as one of the places in the world I like most.