HiLDA

Today we manage a smooth setup of the station, which consists from HiLDA side of a single N3 OPC and a webcam. The weather is recorded by the Veðurstofa station nearby. In addition, Brian sets up a TSI DustTrak OPC, which will be here for the summer. This instrument needs a separate shelter, though. So after a careful consideration of different options, we install it inside an old Land Rover, which sits in a suitable distance from the next building with a bunch of siblings since 20 and more years. Due to the English craftsmanship, we’re confident that it will serve its duty as ‘protected casing’…

Many thanks to Sigga and Bragi, who allow us the station setup at their home Grímsstaðir! Their family is actually caring for the meteorological station since the beginning in 1907.

Being COVID-tested at the air port at the end is not much fun, and waiting for the results neither. However, at the end we get our certificate of freedom and can go for a quick dinner. The next day we can resole the moose with its summer shoes and start for station Mýrar. Here we can pickup the first samples, see what damage the salty air has done to the stainless steel and equip the filter sampler with a display.

After a windy night in the tent, we return to Reykjavík the next day to arrange the trip to the north. We pickup additional optical particle counters from the Agricultural University of Iceland together with Brian, who will be installing one besides our new station at Grímsstaðir. On the long ride to the place, we have the opportunity to visit the Grábrók Crater and Goðafoss, before we reach our destination with nice views of Herðubreið on the horizon.

Corona / COVID restrictions are released throughout Europe, giving us the chance to continue with our work in Iceland, though not yet in Greenland. The main campaign of HiLDA is postponed by one year to summer 2021, but the complete baseline monitoring is planned to start still in 2020.

So, the next working place for us will be Raufarhöfn in Northern Iceland, where we intend to install another baseline monitoring station. In addition, a wet and a dry deposition collector will be deployed. On the way to the North, we will have a stop at Mýrar for modifying the station and for collecting the first samples.

As a prototype of an autonomous N3 OPC is finished, we will setup another small station just with this instrument at Grímsstaðir á Fjöllum, which is located right in the middle between Raufarhöfn and the planned intesive observation period location just north of the Vatnajökull glacier.

Hopefully the next two weeks will allow for this work to be done… stay tuned!

… we will come back.

Due to the virus, Greenland is closed, and Iceland starts with restrictions. We have to make a decision. After consulting our local colleagues and looking at the situation at home, we draw the option to postpone the setup. Things happen quickly now, and already tomorrow we will fly home. Because one-way flight prices are practically identical to return tickets, Konrad books a flight back to Iceland for May. So we have some hope, but on the other side, it is a flex ticket…

We find stables for the moose and the trailer. The Agricultural University of Iceland takes them for shelter. Many thanks to Ólafur, who helps us greatly with this arrangement!

As result of these delays, also the HiLDA main campaign scheduled for August / September will probably have to be postponed. On one hand because of the other planned stations in Norway will not be timely in place, on the other due to the coming uncertainties in the wake of Corona. So, we have to wait until we see more clearly, what could be coming.

The clerk was right, and the stations starts transmitting data as soon as we insert the SIM card. Then, we do some final adjustments to the direction of the anemometer and webcam – all done. Our remaining concern is whether the anchors will do their job, if the soil is thawing. Only time can tell this.

Pálina, our caretaker, is very quick in outclassing Konrad when it comes to filter exchanging. She volunteered for the two-year job – many thanks to her! We hope that we can pay back a little of the effort by learning interesting things about the aerosol together.

Unfortunately, the Corona situation escalates and starts threatening the setup of the third station on this trip, Raufarhöfn. We have to decide in the next day(s) what to do.

… of driving for a SIM card. In Smáralind, a shopping mall in Reykjavík, the Síminn shop is very busy. But in the end we obtain two cards for our stations; ‘plug-in and play’, the clerk said. As non-nationals, we have to use the prepaid option, so a monthly top-up is required to keep the stations online. Coming from the sparse-populated areas, Reykjavík is for us totally crowded with houses and cars. Meanwhile, Iceland has put Corona restrictions on Icelanders, but not on tourists.

Yesterday, after a short site visit, we spent the afternoon and evening is preparing the electrical and mechanical connections of the station parts. It took – as usual – longer than expected.

Already in the morning, dark clouds rose in the sunny weather, as Konrad received messages from Greenland, informing us that due to the Corona virus our accommodation will close.

Today, we setup all the station parts and connect everything together – we get faster! The sunny weather is gone, so we hammer the anchor pegs through frozen ground, which had already thawed yesterday. Luckily, the station is placed at the farm of Mýrar. Pálina, our local caretaker, supplies us with highly suitable tools – many thanks! Towards the evening, another light snow storm comes up, but we can finish before it gets dark.

An unforseen obstacle shows up – at the south coast of Iceland it is not possible to buy a SIM card for connecting the station to the mobile network. Tomorrow we have to drive to Reykjavík to obtain one from Siminn directly. Supposedly, there is a shop open on Sunday…

The dark clouds of Greenland become official, travel restriction will be active. We have to cancel our trip and postpone it. Not enough time in Iceland is therefore not anymore a problem. Our box is still scheduled for transport to Greenland, so the guest house people hopefully will pick it up from the airport and store it safely, until the situation clears.

There it is, the silver lining. In the morning, we can cross Fjarðaheiði towards Egilsstaðir, but the ride is a little adventurous. Twice we have to stop in a total white-out due to blowing snow, crouching down besides the online visible street post. In Egilsstaðir we can stock for the following days and get the moose’s boots changed, so it has claws now. After reaching Reyðarfjörður, we can sail around East Iceland in postcard weather, but when we reach our final destination west of Kirkjubæjarklaustur, an Arctic snow storm comes up again. Nevertheless, we reduce our delay to just one day.

… not literally yet. – But today, the local car magician – obviously a highly respected member of the community, everybody, even in Tórshavn, recommended him – cures the moose from his broken spine!

As is still keeps snowing, the road to Egilsstaðir did not open anyway, so we do not lose additional time. For tomorrow, the forecast looks better, so we keep watching for the literal silver lining.

On arrival after another shaky trip, we crawl with the moose to the next and only workshop. However, we have to learn that everybody is highly busy, for example in repairing the snow plough, or rather dredger. Anyway, the only road leading away from the fjord is closed due to snow, so we have to wait for at least the next day.