Here we go!

It's never plain sailing, into the Arctic, is it? And here we were, thinking we were going to make it without a hiccup....

Everything went smoothly to start off with. Clive, Mareile, Rodica, Felicia, Cristen and I arrived at the airport on Monday to find that our plane was on time, and the line-ups were short. What a change from last year! Our luck continued to hold - we met up with Oleg and Tom (who had made it back from the South Pole just the day before) in the airport, successfully arrived in Edmonton, and made our way to Yellowknife. Even though between us we sampled all three of the commercial carriers that fly into Yellowknife, not one bag went missing!  We had an enjoyable Tuesday morning in Yellowknife, investigating the sights and making the most of the gorgeous day, before taking off a little before the scheduled 4pm departure time for Eureka.  The first rumbling of trouble on the horizon was a mention at our refueling stop in Resolute that conditions were deteriorating at Eureka, but we decided to try for it anyway. We could actually see the lights of the weather station (barely, through the clouds and snow), but the high winds and lack of visibility made landing impossible. We turned back, and an hour and a half later, arrived back at Resolute at around 4 am. We were met by the local legend, Aziz, who packed us all into his van, took us home, gave us wonderful food and a very welcome room each for the rest of the night.

As I write this, at 11 am Wednesday morning, I can feel the building shake in the wind. The local school cancelled class today because of the weather. My hopes of getting out of here are not high. At the same time, I am excited. To me, the blowing snow, the disrupted plans and the uncertainty is part of what makes Arctic field research so exciting. It reminds you that you are so insignificant in the scheme of things. It also reminds you of the harshness of the environment up here... that life here is tenuous, conditions are harsh, and that even small changes in the environment can have a profound effect. It’s a great reminder of what called me to study science.

That said, this warm room is hardly the stuff of polar explorers! Whatever did they do before the internet reached igloos?