Sonja Murto, postdoc at MISU, launching the first radiosonde balloon as the first ice appears. Photo: Michael Tjernström/MISU/Stockholm University

Leaving Longyearbyen Monday night we went straight north into the ice edge – the marginal ice zone – and spent two days there. Since, we have been trying to get farther north but the ice has been quite heavy and we have been diverted farther west and are now a little bit north of 80N, almost on the zero meridian.

The last days we have had nice weather with some sun but cold, about 10 centigrade below freezing, and windy. Before that we had mild weather with some snow. And right now we are expecting a storm to come in over the weekend.

Most groups are very active measuring and sampling; continuous atmospheric systems are measuring, the radiosounding program is up an running (photo) and we have also done a few CTD casts and helicopter sampling trips. We also flew the first Helipod mission on the first day, with the advanced measuring package under the helicopter. And had a few polar bear visits.