I am leaving Rovaniemi today (this was written on Monday April 7). I’ll fly from Rovaniemi to Longyearbyen via Helsinki and Oslo with Laura, the other woman of the mission. Once in Longyearbyen, meeting field colleagues (it is an international project) and gathering our gear will be our first job. Then, we will pray for good weather conditions to fly on time by helicopter to Nordaustlandet island and set the camp on the summit of Vestfonna.
I am specialized in ice-chemistry and paleoclimatology; that means that I analyse the chemical composition of old ice and interpret results in terms of past climate. As I am involved in the IPY Kinnvika project, my mission is to decipher chemical records of the 350 m deep ice core we will attempt to extract from Vestfonna glacier this month.
Though, before analysing anything, I need to get the raw material (=ice) and I need to get it myself with the help of my colleagues glaciologists. That’s why I form a part of the drilling team on the go to Vestfonna ice cap (Nordaustlandet, Svalbard). Our team will drill a medium-depth (~300 m) ice core which records would span the last millennium or two.
This mission will be quite challenging and most of all a precious learning experience. Even though I already have experienced life and sampling work in polar deserts (included on Vestfonna last year) and have already worked for rock-drilling in temperate regions, I have never combined those two activities. Therefore, Kinnvika ice-core drilling project is the golden opportunity to learn how to bring those skills together.
I just have my 15 kg bag with me today and I hope to come back by mid May with 2 tons of ice to analyse!
Emilie wearing a clean suit to sample snow (for chemical analyses) in the pit they dug in 2007.
