MAMM Lapland Air sampling road trip – August 12-17, 2013

 Part 1 – In the beginning – Tuesday Aug 13, 21:00 UT

View across Tornetrask, near Abisko – 12/08/2013 15:16 UTC. (Photo credit: Dave Lowry, RHUL.)

View across Tornetrask, near Abisko – 12/08/2013 15:16 UTC. (Photo credit: Dave Lowry, RHUL.)

Reached Kiruna, Sweden, yesterday (Monday) afternoon having taken the early flight from Heathrow. Spent nearly 4 hours driving up to Boden on the Norwegian coast. Realised that my itinerary was an underestimate of time due to a lot of summer road resurfacing activity and a lorry in the roadside ditch. Collected 3 samples up to the Norwegian border and had some nice views of the lake near Abisko.

Very long day today. Set out from Boden just after 9 and didn’t get to the hotel at Skaidi until 8 this evening. Couldn’t keep up with the itinerary again. Probably too many photo stops. Some long stretches through forest and under leaden grey skies up to the Tromso turn off, but started to get a little blue sky as we travelled further NE and some stunning coastal views as the mountains started to appear. Collected 10 more samples on the route and saw a porpoise just off shore at one stop. Wind seemed to be all over the place and less than 2 m/s except at the head of one or two fjords. Refuelled on an excellent reindeer stew and some of the local cloudberries with dessert. Getting colder. Temperature down to 6°C going over one of the passes this afternoon.

— Dave Lowry, Royal Holloway University of London

Collecting air sample beside Lyngen (69°35.5’N, 20°25.3’E), 13/08/2013 12:31 UTC. (Photo credit: Dave Lowry, RHUL.)

Collecting air sample beside Lyngen (69°35.5’N, 20°25.3’E), 13/08/2013 12:31 UTC. (Photo credit: Dave Lowry, RHUL.)