ARTICA WRITINGS 2023
Recipes for disaster / Oppskrifter på katastrofe
by Nikhil Vettukattil
All my assumptions about Svalbard fell apart before I had even got off the plane. There are on average two flights a day from Oslo to Longyearbyen, which always make a stop in Tromsø, northern Norway. I knew Longyearbyen had a population of just under 2400, and I naively assumed the flights were operating out of some national necessity, seeing as the island of Svalbard is 400 miles north of the nearest Norwegian shore.
Why Are We Eating Space Food on Earth? / Hvorfor spiser vi astronautmat på jorda?
by Maggie Coblentz
Between field excursions to install new equipment on a nearby glacier, I return to my home in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, which I periodically convert into a research station filled with scientists, engineers, and artists. With my boots half-off, I tiptoe through a maze of pickle jars and field equipment to feed my sourdough starter. It has been passed down for eleven years and has more experience living in the Arctic than I.
The Secret to Getting Fat / Hemmeligheten bak det å bli feit
by Samantha P. H. Dwinnell
For nearly 30 years, we have been following collared Svalbard reindeer, collecting more than their poop. We have been seeing where they go (with GPS-collars), how well they survive, and the number of calves they raise. We’ve monitored what parasites they carry, how heavy they are each spring, and how that changes with shifting conditions of Svalbard.
Mushrooms in the ice desert / Sopper i isødet
by Reidun Braathen and Even W. Hanssen
Little did Baltazar Mathias Keilhau know that in September 1827, he would make history when he collected his first mushrooms on Stans Foreland – what has since become known as Edgeøya (English: Edge Island). This was the beginning of human knowledge of and familiarity with fungi in the Svalbard archipelago.