Arctic green

At this time of year, the Kilpisjärvi region is pretty green. Most of the snow has melted and the trees are not quite yet changing to brown for the autumnal drop. Today's photograph was taken looking south along the western bank of the mound on which the antennas are located. The mountain on the left edge is Saana and on the right is Pikku Malla.

Looking south from KAIRA (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

A bit of a walk

Along similar lines to the recent post on swimming, we have another little adventure. This was the decision on Monday evening to go for a walk... this time to Luosto. Lassi organised this, similar to our excursion last year to Viiankijärvi, which was a chance to get outdoors away from the work and see some Lappish scenery.

Anyway, there are some ski slopes there not far from the Amethyst Mine, and we climbed up the hill there. Today, we have a couple of photographs from that trip... in stark comparison to the conditions of last January. Remember our scene from last time?

Intrepid adventurers from SGO. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

The ski-slopes... looking forlorn in the summer. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Still a great walk, with lovely weather conditions. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

After the discovery of the giant river pike after our bit of a swim, we might have been quite nervous about what we might have found at the top of the mountain. And indeed there was something quite unusual at the top.

But you will have to wait until tomorrow to find out what it was!

Korkea-Jehkas

Today we have a photograph of the KAIRA site seen from about half-way up Pikku Malla.The lake in the foreground is Siilasjärvi. Behind that is KAIRA and the custom station. Then, the mountain in the background is Korkea-Jehkas. This peak actually has the highest elevation angle, as seen from KAIRA. Although less distinctive, it exceeds the angle raised by Pikku-Malla and Saana.

KAIRA with Korkea-Jehkas in the background (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

PS: The mountain is "Korkea-Jehkas", not "Korkeajännitys"... although perhaps that too!  :-)

Kiintojää

A couple of evenings ago, there was a very moody sunset over the Kitinen river near Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory. Along the shore, there is still fast-ice, but the mainstream is pretty clear now.

Fast ice along the Kitinen River (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

The KAIRA snowscape

It's Friday again and, after a dearth of Friday photographs, we've an absolute treat for you today.

Back in November of 2013, we ran an extended campaign at KAIRA with the University of Southampton, observing pulsars, incoherent scatter radar and various riometry experiments. On one morning, we actually had some clear weather, giving us a chance to take some photographs. And today we feature one of these.

KAIRA 2013-11-03 (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

The photograph was taken on 3rd November 2013, and shows the Low-Band Antenna (LBA) array in the central foreground with the HBA behind it and a bit to the right. It is also possible to see the site containers too. The mountains in the background are (from left to right) Pikku Malla, Iso Malla and Sallorássa. The first two are in Finland and the latter is in Norway.

You can click on the above image to see a somewhat larger version. However, for those who really want high-resolution, we have a 3200x1000-pixel version (4 MB) at the KAIRA press-and-media page. Or, if that is not enough, we also have a huge 9600x3000-pixel version (30 MB... Warning: this image may take a while to download). Oh, and a big thank-you to Poppy Martin (U. Soton) for lending her amazing camera to me in order to make the image.

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Snowy slopes

It is Friday again, so time for a photograph. Today's is of the snowy slopes of Pikku Malla, not far from the KAIRA site.

The slopes near Pikku Malla (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

KAIRA site conditions 2013.11.25

It is Friday again! But today, instead of a nice photograph, we have a short video for you. Earlier this week there was a pretty heavy snow fall at Kilpisjärvi. Our snow corridors are now about half full and with the wind picking up, there was quite a lot of drift snow banks about. Around midday, we took some video footage of various places around the site and have compiled them into a short video for you to see what KAIRA looks like at this time of year.

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut48VSVoFCk


Have a nice weekend!

Frozen Kitinen

This week we have a guest photo, kindly provided by our recent KAIRA observer:

It's Photo Friday! 

The frozen river at SGO. (Photo: P. Martin)

Enjoy your weekend.   :)

Text & image credit: P. Martin

Fiery skies

Today's photograph is from a little while ago now. It was perhaps the last day before the snow started, and there was a particularly spectacular sunrise. In amongst the clouds is the faint silhouette of Saana.

A fiery sunrise over the KAIRA LBA (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Snow on the branches

Just another nice image. Today's photograph shows some of the snow on the branches of the birch trees near the KAIRA site.

Snowy branches near KAIRA (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

There is not much sun left now for this year. And, what little daylight there might be, it is often cloudy, which is typical at this time of year. So, we're making the most of the last of the sunny photographs that we have!  :-)

The route from EISCAT-Norway to KAIRA

The road from the EISCAT site at Ramfjordmoen near Tromsø back to KAIRA is quite scenic. As it is Friday (our regular day for nice photographs), we've decided to post a few from the recent Southampton/ campaign that KAIRA supported.

Looking up the valley from EISCAT. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Near Lyngenfjord (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Near Langmoen (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Floating at the top of the world

Today we have a nice photograph of the midday sun over the KAIRA site. There is not much sun left now, with Polar Night about to start. So we're going to make the most of it!

Sun and clouds over the KAIRA site. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

The clouds make it seem like the entire observatory is floating at 10 000 m above sea level!

Border mountains

Today's photograph shows the mountains along the border between Finland and Norway. The shot was taken from atop the RF-container, looking out across the lower field.

Looking west-northwest towards Norway. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Science Camp cultural visit to 79 degrees North

Another report from Esa Turunen in the far north...

The morning of fourth day in the Finnish students "Space Weather Science Camp" in Longyearbyen finally gave us the starry skies and clear weather. This in Svalbard means at least -15 degrees C cold temperature and increasing chill factor with the ever blowing sea winds. Specially you could imagine the chill factor onboard a ship, such as the M/S Langøysund. This boat, with a staff of 4 persons, one of them a very competent international guide speaking several languages, took us on a cultural visit to Pyramiden. Pyramiden is an abandoned settlement at nearly 79 degrees north, once a lively coal mining town of 900 people, including whole families. While Longyearbyen still in 1970's only was a town of a few male mining workers, Pyramiden had a swimming and sports facility, cultural house with indoor basket ball court, theater and cinema, own hospital, farmed animals, school and children play grounds.

Today Pyramiden is inhabited normally only by 2 persons, and even they move away for the winter. There is a hotel, which offers services at some tourist season times and tourist visits are organized by boats from Longyerbyen. When the original inhabitants left the town, they only had 48 hours to collect their personal belongings and the whole town was emptied at once. The houses and rooms were left as they are. Today you can make a museum time trip to a complete small town of the Sovietunion time here. Some houses are even renovated, so that Pyramiden is slowly changing its face from a ghost town to a cultural heritage attraction in the far, far north.

The boat trip itself was an extraordinary arctic experience. Lunch was served as barbecue on the front deck, despite of the wind and freezing temperature. Vegetarians got their own icebergsalad plates, hot omelettes, salmon and naturally a taste of grilled whale meat was available, too. As sun painted the morning sky with golden colors in the east, pastel shades were seen allover the rest of the sky, above the sharp and layered mountain peaks, which are characteristic to Svalbard. The ship brought us near to the glacier Nordenskiöldbreen for the lunch break. As extra surprise for 2 minutes we could admire the fins of a few whales as they swam away from the boat. At Pyramiden we saw typical arctic animals at a very near distance. Two ptarmigans were eating seeds by one street and an arctic fox was searching for food near to the hotel building. They seemed to belong to the current inhabitants of the town letting us to photograph them at 10 m distance.

M/S Langøysund waiting four the students at
08:30 in Longyearbyen, ready for the trip to
Pyramiden. (Photo: E. Turunen)

Discussing space physics on the front deck
of M/S Langøysund. (Photo: E. Turunen)

Nordenskiöldbreen, a glacier named according to the
famous Finnish-Swedish arctic explorer, who
once was here, too. (Photo: E. Turunen)

Pyramiden, an abandoned ghost town at
nearly 79 degrees north. (Photo: E. Turunen)

The main square of Pyramiden, view from the cultural
house towards Nordenskiöldbreen. (Photo: E. Turunen)

The sun is above horizon but behind the mountains.
Skies are painted by pink and blue pastel
shades in Svalbard. Note the stunning geology
of these mountains. (Photo: E. Turunen)

Skyscape

Just a nice photograph to finish the week. This one was taken at dusk in early October. Click on the image to see the enlargement.

Looking westwards over the KAIRA site. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Ascending Pikku Malla

On Friday 11th October, we had a particularly bright morning. Therefore, the KAIRA observing team decided to change the weekend plan and take Friday morning off, instead of some time on the weekend itself. Our plan was to climb Pikku Malla.

Although Pikku Malla is often climbed by tourists in the summer, October is a slightly different story. Indeed, it was a delightfully sunny day, but it was very cold and extremely windy. And that was before we ascended to the top!

Pikku Malla... our mountaineering target (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Looking back, part way to the summit. You can just see KAIRA
in the centre of the image. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Nearing the top. The wind was howling by now. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Made it! We just need to hang-on now to stop being
blown away. In the distance, you can see Kilpisjärvi
lake and Sweden. (Photo: P. Martin)

While Pikku Malla might not be a very tall mountain, the high winds made it quite a challenge. Still, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip and we made it safely back.

Reindeer at Siilasjärvi

Time for a Friday photograph. This week we have found a rather interesting photo taken by someone other than our own SGO staff. This is wikipedia-user Antti Leppänen, who has taken some excellent photographs of KAIRA and surrounding landscape. There was one in particular that caught our attention. A shot of the KAIRA site from the classic vantage point of nearby Pikku-Malla.

English: KAIRA observatory in Kilpisjärvi, Enontekiö, Finland seen from Pikku-Malla

Suomi: KAIRA-observatorio Enontekiön Kilpisjärvellä nähtynä Pikku-Mallalta
Photograph: Antti Leppänen, 25-Jul-2013. Source: LINK

 Although an excellent photograph, the interesting part is when you zoom in along the shoreline of Siilasjärvi (the lake in the foreground of the image). Look what can be seen there...

Detail from photograph by Antti Leppänen, 25-Jul-2013.
Click on the photo for an enlargement. Source: LINK

If you look carefully, you can see reindeer wandering around on the beach! What an idyllic spot...

Have a nice weekend everyone.

Viiankijärvi

It is Friday again and thus time for a nice photograph to end the week. Today's photograph is of the lake Viiankijärvi, which is in a nature reserve to the north of Sodankylä. Very scenic, although there were a few mosquitoes too...

Viiankijärvi (click to enlarge)

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Wildflowers at UK608

This weekend I made a visit to the LOFAR station in the United Kingdom (UK608, Chilbolton) in order to work on various station calibration things for both KAIRA and LOFAR generally. While there, I went out to the field itself to see the antennas. Being at the height of the British summer (which lasts for 3-4 days on average), there were plenty of wild flowers in bloom, including some near and on the array itself.

Wild poppies near the LBA aerials. In the background is the 25m dish (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

More wildflowers near the aerials. Does anyone know what they are? (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

A view from the slopes

To end the week we have a lovely photograph taken by SGO director, Esa Turunen. This shot was taken from the slopes of Saana, looking south across Kilpisjärvi.

Looking southwards, over the slopes of Saana. (Photo: E. Turunen)

Have a nice weekend, everyone!