Matthew Nicholson, Dominic Rees, Shaun Farrell, Maisie McCormack, Laura Brierley

• “Assessing the spatial and temporal changes of the Longyear catchment and its wider region”
• BSc Geography

As a group of five BSc Geography undergraduates, we were fortunate enough to receive funding from Exco to help support our expedition to Longyearbyen, Svalbard. The trip provided us with an opportunity to collect our own data which will be used towards our final year dissertations as part of our course requirements. However, during the four week period, we all shared a common goal of “assessing the spatial and temporal changes of the Longyear catchment and its wider region”

After arriving into Longyearbyen at 1:30 in the morning, we were (and still are) amazed by how beautiful it was. With it being located so deep inside the Arctic Circle, we arrived in the light as it never gets dark in the summer! After having a couple days to settle in, we then had to undertake a polar bear safety course in which we learnt how to shoot a rifle and flare gun in the event of an encounter. Once we completed this, we then had 14 days where we hiked up to the glacier to collect our data! As well as collecting our data, we also came home with new skills and memories that we will never forget!

Funded by:
Newcastle Univerisity Expedition Grants, Sonia Stonehouse Award, RGS fieldwork Grant, Gino Watkins Memorial Fund, Arctic Club Award, Gilchrist Grant, Andrew Croft Memorial Fund, CoScan Travel award

Project Supervisor: Dr Rachel Carr