Day 2 - Mesocosm building!

The first pallets with our scientific equipment arrived this morning and we are busy unpacking and allocating lab space. But more excitingly, it is time to jump into wellies and wetsuits: We start building our mesocosms!

The van arrives and we are excited to start unpacking.
Hopefully, nothing went missing!

This is our research vessel.

These are the rafts that will keep the mesocosm bags at the surface.
They are still just metal frames, with lots of bolts and screws,
which could damage the mesocosm bags.

Brivaëla brings a big roll of bubble wrap down to the water.
Juli and Christina wrap it around the sharp steel clamps,
the most likely part to rip the mesocosm bags.

The raft is now ready for assembly.

The fjord is full of sea urchins and molluscs.
It seems to be ‘sea urchin paradise’ (Quote Christina).
Juli and Sari have a closer look.

The rafts need to be joined. This is quite a difficult task as the
nuts and bolts are incredibly rusty and the water freezingly cold.
Fortunately, we have the muscle power of Thomas, Herwig and Jussi.
Christina and Sari provide moral support.

The rafts are joined and ready to be taken out to the fjord tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Manon, Mia and Morgane are cutting the bags.
The white foil is actually the material used to cover hay bales.

Read tomorrow’s blog to find out how to build a mesocosm bag.

Day 1 - The Bay of Awakening Hope

We left sunny Southampton and the Olympics behind and made our way to a very remote field station 120 km west of Trondheim in Norway. At 63.4°N, it is noticeably colder and I am glad that I brought my winter clothes. But the scenery makes up for it: The fjords and evergreen forests are stunning.

After 12 hours of travelling, we arrive at our final destination and home for the next 4 weeks: Sletvik field station (http://www.ntnu.edu/biology/sletvik-field-station) used to be a school, but is now used for research experiments and field courses by the Norwegian University for Science and Technology, Trondheim.

It is located on the shore of Hopavågen Bay and means ‘shallow bay’, which is explained by the bays maximum depth of around 30 m. In former times, fishermen would seek shelter here in bad weather, giving the bay its name: The bay of awaking hope (Hopavågen Bay). Now, if that is not an encouraging name!

An aerial view of our home for the next 4 weeks: The Norwegian fjords.