‘From the Freezer to the Frying Pan’

I lay in bed and blearily open my eyes. . . . OH NO IT’S BROAD DAYLIGHT! Did I miss the alarm? Have I missed my water collection from the rosette? I was supposed to be on the ice at 8 am, more importantly. . . have I missed breakfast??
My weary eyes glare searchingly at the clock. . . 3:30!!! I haven’t slept in this late since I was an undergraduate student . . .
Realisation slowly sets in. . . . the Arctic summer! Oh yeah, right, the sun never sets (I can hear my supervisor right now “Ah, the perfect environment for a PhD student, no need to go to bed. . . keep working Tom”). Sorry Guillaume, back to sleep and happy dreams of breakfast.

So this is what midnight looks like in the Arctic!!

This is my second trip to what now feels like ‘home’. I was fortunate enough to be on Leg 7 of the CFL project in March and April and experience the Arctic as we all picture it. Clear blue skies, bitterly cold with temperatures reaching -40oC with 30 knot winds, ice gluing your eyelids together, occasional snow flurries, polar bears, Arctic foxes, skidoos and all that cool stuff that makes this place so special. Now, here I am just weeks later and I find myself needing, rather than my furry deerstalker, a sun hat and factor 30 sunscreen. What has happened to my crisp white majestic Arctic? Can I not leave for just six weeks without everything going to pot? Apparently not it would seem.

Leg 7, March/April -40oC________________________________Leg 9, June/July +10oC

Just a matter of weeks ago stepping into the -20 lab was considered. . . ‘quite pleasant’ now the -20 lab seems positively freezing! According to regular visitors to this region this has occurred much quicker than in past years. So is all this a result of global warming is the question we always get bombarded with. . . well, let me just say I am here with the expectation of sea ice, as are we all, but that started to vanish from under our feet back in leg 7 way ahead of schedule. So the evidence WAS under our noses, but has since melted! Make of that what you will.
Ice or no ice, this place is still pretty damn special.

Thomas Brown, University of Plymouth, United Kingdom.