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Chersky 2013: Tropical nights in Siberia
(Photo: Martin Hertel) Olaf and Fanny swinging in the Ambolika at the site.Monday, 22nd of July 2013
When I thought about Siberia, things like polar nights/days, cold temperatures and harsh climatic conditions were running through my mind. But to be honest, I never thought about tropical nights.
Tropical nights are, according to the German Meteorological Society, nights when the temperature will not drop below 20°C. During a span of two nights the minimum temperature changed from 3°C to over 20°C, which is really impressive for Siberia from a meteorological point of view.
Also during the day the temperatures were quite high with 33°C and 24h of sunshine, thanks to the polar day.
This was a great opportunity for me to swim in an arctic river and I have to say, with around 20°C it was warm but still a very good chance to refresh after a hard working day.
(Photo: Martin Hertel) Installing instruments at the first tower.Today, a frontal system from the south was passing us and the temperatures dropped. It was very interesting to observe all the different kinds of cloud forms, especially under these sky conditions.
The sky here is much lower compared to Germany, because the atmosphere is damped at the poles, which can be observed very well and this impression gets amplified by the flat terrain.
The good news is that the boxes with our equipment finally arrived in Chersky, so we could start with the 'serious' fieldwork. The bad news is that their arrival fell together with the above mentioned heat wave, which meant we had to carry our stuff through the tundra at temperatures above 30 degrees and almost no shade.
So on the one hand, all of us were really happy and relieved that we could start with our setup, but on the other hand, it was extremely tough to be working in the field for 10 h at these kinds of temperatures.
(Photo: Martin Hertel) After the boxes arrived by plane they were transported by truck to a small ship and with this ship to the site.It is a big challenge now to do the work, we have planned for three weeks, in just 10 days. Now, after the first 5 days of field work I am still optimistic that we can manage the setup in time.
The first tower is equipped completely and appears to be running smoothly. At the same site the transect of chamber is installed and the measurements can start there too.
After half of the time we managed half of the work and I am still positive, that the remaining time is enough to finish everything. Hopefully I am not wrong ...
Written by Fanny