Since Thursday, the scientists and support personnel from Thorpex have established their main headquarters on Andøya. On Monday, the rest of the scientists arrived, along with the headline attraction - a Falcon business jet modified for research purposes by Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), the German aerospace center.
The Falcon experienced the consequences of the bad weather in Northern Norway even before the campaign was got underway. Snow and hail made it impossible to land. After circling Andenes for almost an hour while the pilots waited for the runway to be de-iced, the plane had to land at Evenes airport for re-fueling.
More bad weather in sight
Late Monday evening, the scientists will plan the flight for the next morning. The forecasts for the days ahead call for a lot of cold northerly winds from the Arctic, which will provide ample opportunity for bad weather, and the scientists are excited.
"The low pressure system that is building up over the Norwegian Sea is being amplified by land formations on Spitsbergen. Eventually, the low pressure system will move southwest and meet cold air from Greenland. In the days ahead, we might be able to see a lot of interesting weather phenomena that are difficult to forecast," says Gunnar Noer from Vervarslinga for Nord-Norge (the Northern Norway regional office of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute).
For their first mission, the scientists hope to fly toward Svalbard to capture the low pressure system that is building up in the Norwegian Sea, and the winds from Greenland.
"On Tuesday, we will fly along the eastern coast of Greenland, north of Jan Mayen and to Longyearbyen for re-fueling. We will then take readings west of Bjørnøya," explains Idar Barstad from the Bjerknes Center for Climate Research.
