Life Beyond the Beaker

We are aboard the RRS Neil Armstrong... The ship is only 2 years old!! So everything's pretty shiny. There's a definite space theme to the ship which is awesome!  Imagine having an axe with your name on it haha...this is actually a.safety axe to knock through a window or door in a fire was preventing you from getting out of somewhere. The ship is owned by Woodshole Oceanographic Institution in America..world famous for their oceanography! I applied for an internship for them a few years ago but got rejected so it's awesome to be finally working with them! Rich styling the new type of cow boy hat which is infact a safety regulated hard hat! Haha Very important information... I you're late no food! This is where we are off tomorrow after we have refuelled! Down South to Rockall Bank near Scotland then West then back north to Reykjavik. Enroute at stations we will be picking up and deploying lots of oceanography Oceanographic moorings....

Look at the difference in weather from Glasgow to Keflavik in Iceland and yes the top one is Glasgow...  It was very difficult to pack for a cold place when the weather was so warm so hopefully I've got enough layers! Joining the ship tomorrow so will update you on what I'm.doing when ice found out...  :)

For anyone that's been following me since Antarctica, then my paper on microplastics around Rothera research station has been published...you can read it here:  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X18303977 Any questions let me know. https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/impact-of-plastic-in-the-polar-regions/

I have fallen in love with Svalbard...it reminds me a lot of Antarctica except that at any moment you could get attacked by a polar bear...not far from the truth as when we were there, a polar bear got very close to town by was chased away by a helicopter and monitored for 2 days before they lost it, the polar bear was then found on the other side of the Fjord opposite Longyearbyen so the helicopter chased it away again! Apart from the treat of the apex predator attacking you, Svalbard has a lot to offer including incredible scenery with mountains that need to be climbed and snowboarded (already planning a trip back), a very quaint town bursting with the mining history and the polar feel about it. The JCR approaching Longyearbyen...awaiting the pilot to navigate us through the shallow fjord.  Wind increasing with height creates this incredible cloud formation which I could and did watch for a long time!!! I stayed with my friend Otti and her partner Stephen in their flat ...

AS I write this I am sat in my friend Otti's flat in Longyearbean looking out at the incredible view where the mountains lie dormant covered in the thawing snow, ships bustle in and out of the harbour and I can see the JCR moored alongside the dock. I met Otti in Rothera when she was studying snow algae, she's now living in Longyearbean and has kindly let me stay whilst I explore the area!          We did not have much internet as we sailed around the Fram Strait so sorry for the lack of updates. Someone in work recently said to a few colleagues of mine that I hope you've had a nice 'holiday' whilst we've been away from SAMs....I wish we could say it had been a holiday but it was far from it. Firstly, we had an incredible cruise and got to see parts of the Fram Strait which only a handful of people see, the views were spectacular, the sea ice majestic, the wildlife even though limited this year was a beautiful site to see. But you never forget that you are at s...