This Monday was our final day at the Sorgfjorden station site and therefore a day to finish up with all remaining documentation tasks there. In addition we needed to survey three additional sites in the surrounding area. Quite a lot for only one day, but at the end of it we had done all but one of our planned tasks.

The absence of rain worked in our favor. It was sunny but the winds were very strong again, at times at storm capacity. This created several problems for the instruments, which vibrated and had to be stabilized in order to get the quality we wanted. At times the wind even “pushed” the off button on the GNSS / GPS receivers. Lessons: touch buttons are no good in stormy weather.

After finishing our tasks at the station site, part of the team dismantled our equipment, while a part of the team went on a long distance survey of a cloud observatory and a telephone line across the tundra. In the roaring winds by the Hinlopens strait and the sheer amount of historical remains we found, this turned into a time consuming activity.

In the evening the team made a final documentation of arc of meridian scientific infrastructures at Eoulusneset, Sorgfjorden. This survey gave very interesting results, since it strongly supported our hypotheses that much of the material remains of the main station building of the arc of meridian expedition at Sorgfjorden, later ended up as construction materials for hunters huts on the northern side of Spitsbergen.

After returning to Ulla Rinman, we travelled over night to Mosselbukta where we anchored waiting for the final documentation task of the entire expedition.

Expedition members trying to make accurate measurements despite of the strong winds. Photo: Dag Avango