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BLOG: Samoylov 2015, Arriving to Siberia

So, here we are, finally! The journey was long, starting in Berlin at noon on Tuesday and ending on Samoylov Island on Thursday around noon local time, altogether around 45 hours. Everything went though smoothly and now we are all eager to start with work.

We will be around 15 people on the island throughout July.

In addition to me, Pete and Niko, we have in the “AWI group” Hanno Meyer, Gunther Stoof, or Molo as he is called, and Waldemar. In addition we have here Lars Kutzbach from Hamburg, who is also our scientific leader in this trip and PhD students Tim, Nana and Josefine all three also from Hamburg.

In the Russian group we have Olga, Sasha, Natasha and Ira who all come from St. Petersburg.

We spent our first night in Tiksi, waiting to get a helicopter flight to Samoylov. Tiksi is an old military / harbor town, which today hosts around 4000 inhabitants. In the evening we had a nice dinner together cooked by the “boys” enjoying some local delicacies.

In the front Josefine, around the table going clockwise, Tim, Lars, Niko, Sasha, Nana, Pete and Hanno. Picture: Leena-Kaisa Viitanen, AWI

Early next morning we got ready for the helicopter taking us to the island itself. The view, while flying, is quite spectacular and looking around the delta, you really get the feeling that you are in the Arctic. In some parts the snow is still there and some pack ice is still to be found in Lena.

Tiksi from the helicopter. Picture: Leena-Kaisa Viitanen

The next two days or so in Samoylov will go to getting used to the equipment already at the station and preparing the actual work. It means that I will check out the probe for the lake measurements, get assistance in calibrating the necessary sensors and get the helium balloons ready, so that I can start with the aerial pictures as soon as the good weather shows up.

Polygons on the tundra on our way to the island. Picture: Leena-Kaisa Viitanen

Arriving to the new station on Samoylov Island. Picture: Leena-Kaisa Viitanen

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