Reindeer fence

We continue our series of web log posts about work completed at the end of last year. Although we've been really busy over the winter, we've almost caught up with all the news ready for the next stage of the build this season.

Of course, one of the distinctive features of the KAIRA site is the beautiful wildlife. However, we do need to protect our sensitive experiment from the animals that roams these northern wilds.

As mentioned last year, there was a reindeer fence that was installed around the full site perimeter. The following photograph (by Arttu Jutila) shows the site layout, with a faint yellow line marking the proposed route of the so-called reindeer fence.

As we mentioned the posts for this were installed last summer and the wire spooled out from post to post to secure the area. Here is the wire deployment rig.


Finally, some gate lines were added along the route to permit access. Here is the main entrance during construction last autumn.



As you can see, the snow had started to set in back then. Of course throughout the winter it has been totally covered in snow. Note also the reflective markers. The fence itself is also marked to make it distinct in critical areas. As we also mentioned in a previous post, there are also snow poles around the area to mark difficult or dangerous terrain that may be hidden under the snow and ice.

Reindeer, Part Two

Silhouette of a reindeer hiding under the HBA tiles.  

A while back, we had a post about Reindeer at the KAIRA site. This time we will post some more pictures of these animals which have found shelter under our HBA field.

At any given moment during our cabling work, there were at least two reindeer under our antenna. They arrived on the day that we accidentally brought in some salted gritting sand to fill in one of the cable trenches. At first, they were a bit shy, but on the second week they were already feeling very much at home. 

So far there haven't been any problems with the reindeer. They have been very relaxed, and have grown to be very used to the kind people who obviously are building them a huge reindeer shelter. Little do they know that we have already put up most of the fence posts for our reindeer fence, which will hopefully be in place by the time mating season starts. This is when the reindeer get more aggressive, and might pose more risk to our radar receiver. At SGO, we have previously had problems with reindeer that think various antennas are competing male reindeer with fancy antlers that just call out for a duel. Already now there is a small risk of one of these guys getting their antlers tangles up in some of the cables, even though they are fairly well protected by the cable trays and ducts. 

Reindeer breastfeeding. 

Another one hiding under the tiles.

Yet another one hiding under the tiles.

Photo credits: Mikko Orispää.

Saana

A view of KAIRA with Saana behind it.
Photo credits: Mikko Orispää.  

Saana, the landmark of Kilpisjärvi is mentioned in many of the posts on this blog already, but today we will offer several more pictures of it. It is approximately 1030 m from the sea level and approximately 500 m above the KAIRA site. It is also one of the most well known fells in Finland. Nearly every Finn would recognize it from an image from its unique steep south east slope.

Our radar has an excellent view to this fell, which is evident from the picture on the left, taken from the northern side of the field. The picture below shows Saana from the south.

Saana viewed from the south.
Photo credits: Stuart Keenan

Siilasjärvi

The Pikku-Malla fell, as seen from Siilasjärvi.
Photo credits: Mikko Orispää. 

There is a lake called Siilasjärvi several hundred meters away from the array. On this lake, the water is crystal clear, with a shallow sandy beach and a spectacular view to the neighbouring fells Saana and Pikku-Malla. On the day that we went down to the lake, there were also several young merlin on a lookout for lemmings.

A small hut storing fishing nets on the shore of Siilasjärvi.
Photo credits: Mikko Orispää.