Back to the Frozen North

Hello!

I suppose I should really tell you all about the last few months, given that I haven't posted for about 8 months! well, I finished my degree in Aberystwyth in July, getting a First Class Honours in my Masters. I then decided I deserved (!) a break, and a bit of time to consider what I wanted to do next. A PhD is the obvious route, but theres so many titles available in so many different departments, and without the internet in my room in Svalbard last year, I couldn't really do any research into what I wanted to apply for. Hence, I took six months off and looked into some position in different Universities in the U.K.

I've always been drawn to the colder regions, I think the promise of study on Svalbard was one of the main reasons I studied in Aberystwyth. Anyway, I decided that I would like to do a PhD on the Polar regions, probably focusing on the effects of climate change in these areas. which leads me to why I'm sitting here in Nybyen, Svalbard, typing the first post of a new blog (or at least renamed old blog!) 'Return to the High Arctic'.

My degree in Aberystwyth was tailored, at least in the last two years, to Auroral and upper Atmospheric physics. But I'm looking at PhDs focusing on the Cryosphere (all the snow and Ice), so I'm back in UNIS studying 'Air-Ice-Sea Interaction' and 'Snow and Ice processes'. which has the dual purpose of perparing me for my choice of post-grad study, and allowing me to live in the arctic for another 6 months!

So, now you're up to date with the last few months. getting here was pretty similar to last time, except it wasn't new Year's eve/day, so I was able to get some food this time. Before Leaving Oslo we had to change planes because of a fault with the de-icing system, and we were delayed in Tromso due to snow on the runway, consequently arriving in Longyearbyen about 3 hours late. This time I'm living across the road in Barrack 4, which is now barrack 10 (for some reason), and everyone seems nice, but, again, theres too many names to try to remember!

The plan for today is to dig out Malibu, Brendans Snow scooter, to see whether it still works! Bren is here working on his PhD project up at EISCAT Svalbard Radar, but he goes home a week today. watch this space! tomorrow we start the safety course, which should be more pleasant this year because its nowhere near as cold as it was this time last year, only about -16 degrees celcius. just hope this weather holds.

perhaps I'll have some more exciting things to tell you next time, and some pictures too. but I felt I had to catch you up with the last few months first.

Bye for now

Ash