Surprise visitors
"Uh, Kirstin," Erlend peaked his head around the corner, "Do you still have friends on Helmer Hanssen?"
I paused and then smiled. "Yes, I think so." In all likelihood, I knew several people on board the large research ship in the fjord, but it had been at least a year since I last saw them.
"Well, they are coming to the dock at 9," Erlend informed me. I was excited! For the last several years, the Helmer Hanssen has been used to study marine ecosystems in the polar night. The project is headed by Jørgen Berge, a professor at the University of Tromsø who is a powerhouse of Arctic research. In fact, the Marine Night project is what brought me to Ny-Ålesund for the first time as a student in 2015. I decided to take a break from my work and see if I could catch up with the Helmer Hanssen scientists when they came to the dock.
After getting permission to board the ship, I headed straight to the main lab. I found Jørgen, the chief scientist, and had a good conversation with him about my work in Ny-Ålesund. I'll have to keep in touch with him as my collaborators and I analyze our data. Then I walked into a crowd of researchers donning their coats, and my eyes landed on a familiar face in the crowd: a marine biologist named Brandon. He was one of my fellow trainees at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, two years ago. I had found out he was on board just about an hour before (well, I had been told there was someone on board studying polar marine fungi, and Brandon is the only person I've ever met with that wacky and awesome specialty, so it was a reasonable guess), but he had no idea I was coming. It was pretty gratifying to see recognition and surprise sweep over his face.
I ended up walking a lap around Ny-Ålesund with a group of interested scientists from the ship, showing them what I knew of the station and listening about their work. This is one of the reasons I love polar research: it's so international, so collegial, so borderless and friendly. I ended up agreeing to mail some postcards for one of the scientists (Ny-Ålesund has the world's northermost post office, but it's only open two hours a week).
It was a great experience connecting with other researchers in the polar night. Yes, I would say I have friends on Helmer Hanssen.
I paused and then smiled. "Yes, I think so." In all likelihood, I knew several people on board the large research ship in the fjord, but it had been at least a year since I last saw them.
"Well, they are coming to the dock at 9," Erlend informed me. I was excited! For the last several years, the Helmer Hanssen has been used to study marine ecosystems in the polar night. The project is headed by Jørgen Berge, a professor at the University of Tromsø who is a powerhouse of Arctic research. In fact, the Marine Night project is what brought me to Ny-Ålesund for the first time as a student in 2015. I decided to take a break from my work and see if I could catch up with the Helmer Hanssen scientists when they came to the dock.
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| Helmer Hanssen at the dock in Ny-Ålesund |
After getting permission to board the ship, I headed straight to the main lab. I found Jørgen, the chief scientist, and had a good conversation with him about my work in Ny-Ålesund. I'll have to keep in touch with him as my collaborators and I analyze our data. Then I walked into a crowd of researchers donning their coats, and my eyes landed on a familiar face in the crowd: a marine biologist named Brandon. He was one of my fellow trainees at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, two years ago. I had found out he was on board just about an hour before (well, I had been told there was someone on board studying polar marine fungi, and Brandon is the only person I've ever met with that wacky and awesome specialty, so it was a reasonable guess), but he had no idea I was coming. It was pretty gratifying to see recognition and surprise sweep over his face.
I ended up walking a lap around Ny-Ålesund with a group of interested scientists from the ship, showing them what I knew of the station and listening about their work. This is one of the reasons I love polar research: it's so international, so collegial, so borderless and friendly. I ended up agreeing to mail some postcards for one of the scientists (Ny-Ålesund has the world's northermost post office, but it's only open two hours a week).
It was a great experience connecting with other researchers in the polar night. Yes, I would say I have friends on Helmer Hanssen.
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