:: BLOG :: Heading North - Svalbard '07
In early April 2007, a team from WWF’s International Arctic Programme visited the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Julian Woolford's blog provides an insight into this remote part of the world and the important work of polar bear scientists from the Norwegian Polar Institute.
03 Oct 2007
Arctic sea ice reducing at giant pace
The good news is that finally Arctic sea ice seems to have stopped shrinking for this year....
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10 Apr 2007
Day 6 - Last day
The bear in front of us today is a three-year-old female – relatively small for her size it seems. Jon tells me that they have tagged her before when she was a yearling. She had lost her mother back then and so, because she was deprived of having the help of her mother to find food at a critical stage, is not going to grow as large as other bears.
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08 Apr 2007
Day 5 - Happy Easter!
Easter day dawns cold and grey, with low clouds. We had been considering another trip into the field to meet the polar bear scientists, but a couple of phone calls confirm that it’s just not possible to fly. We talk to the French TV team we’re hosting and they decide to take the opportunity to interview some French students in Longyearbyen doing research.
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07 Apr 2007
Day 4 - Mother’s Day
The scientists’ helicopter is about a kilometer away from the research vessel Lance, and we land about 100 metres away from it. We wait by our helicopter while Stefan, the WWF Arctic Programme’s Head of Conservation, and very experienced in the field, goes off to talk to Jon Aars and Magnus Andersen, the two polar bear scientists, to find out if it is all right to approach. » Read more
06 Apr 2007
Day 3 - North Spitsbergen
Suddenly we get a call from the scientists on Lance, a research ship in a fjord in north Spitsbergen, who say that the weather has once again cleared. We decide that it’s worth trying to fly out to join Jon. The flight starts in bright sunshine and we watch in awe as the snow-covered mountains, sea ice and glaciers slip beneath the helicopter. This is truly an extraordinary place. Some 40 minutes later we see Jon’s helicopter by the fjord side. » Read more
05 Apr 2007
Day 2 – Longyearbyen and strong winds
8.30am. A phone call to Jon Aars, the lead polar bear scientist with the Norwegian Polar Institute on the research vessel Lance – away to the north of Svalbard – brings some disappointing news this morning. The cloud cover is very low, and visibility is poor. The wind seems to have strengthened over night and Jon thinks it is unlikely he will be able to continue his research on polar bears today. » Read more
04 Apr 2007
Day 1 - Oslo to Svalbard
I’m writing on the plane as we fly up from Oslo to Longyearbyen, the main town on the Svalbard archipelago. The weather is looking a little unsettled over the next few days, around minus 15 degrees Centigrade, with cloud and strong winds. This should still mean that the tv team from France we have linked up with in Oslo will be able to get the film they need of the Norwegian Polar Institute scientists carrying out research on polar bears.
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