Christmas Greetings from Koldewey Station

One week before Christmas we "Überwinterer" are finally alone. We, that is station engineer Konstanze Piel and station leader Jens Kube. What does "alone" mean here in Ny-Ålesund? Mainly, that we are the only ones left at the German Koldewey-Station. The village of Ny-Ålesund, our home for one year, is hosting about thirty more people, most from Norway, but also from Sweden, China, and Japan. So we are not really lonely. And of cause, we also have contact to our friends, family, and colleagues by the means of modern communication.

Atmospheric research
In the winter period, atmospheric research dominates scientific activities at the station. Our optical instruments work best if there is no background light. Some of the interesting processes in the stratosphere are taking place in the early winter. For example, we are expecting the first Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs), which are known to have an important role in ozone depletion. Since the beginning of November, we are tracking the development of a layer in the stratosphere, dubbed "Mystery Cloud". Together with Marion Müller from AWI Potsdam we launched a plastic balloon carrying a 10kg payload with a water vapor detector. An other balloon launch with a 20kg laser sonde for aerosol detection, an instrument brought by three Japanese scientists, unfortunately failed. We are awaiting three more Japanese launches and the same number of water vapor sondes from Potsdam.

Aurora all day
A very common phenomenon is the aurora. Small and medium strong aurora are visible at nearly all times. Even the short term guests at our station do not care too much about them after a couple of days. But sometimes there are large, bright, white-reddish walls of light, covering the whole sky or moving around in ribbons and curtains. It is this light and the light of the full moon that helps to know that after six to eight weeks there will be dawn again as a sign of the rising sun in March.
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year,