Sunday, January 10, 2010

Welcome!


Welcome to the 2010 NORUS expedition to Ny-Alesund, Svalbard. NORUS is an education and research program that partners American and Norwegian scientists from California Polytechnic State University, Rutgers University, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and University Center in Svalbard. A major goal is to develop and use technology to study our Arctic Ecosystems. After several educational workshops and research expeditions we are focusing on the northernmost community of Ny-Alesund (79 degrees) an old coal mining settlement turned research station. There are approximatly 50 buildings here, not all of which are occupied. Given there is 24 hours of darkness, there are only about 30 people in the community at the moment (including the 9 of us).
We will be conducting a variety of experiments to investigate the effects of the polar night on the Arctic ecosystem, as well as testing a variety of technologies that we hope will aid in future Arctic sampling experiments. Our technology focus will be on underwater robots, name Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), Bottom Crawlers, and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs).

1 comment:

  1. Hi Chris,
    How long will you be in the Artic and given that there is 24 hours of darkness when do you wake up? What's the time difference?

    What kinds of things do you hope to you find in the artic ecosystem?

    The photos are great! Close-ups of what you find are even better. Stay warm :) Silvia

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