12-13 March 2011

Our luggage starts its flight towards Constable Pynt at around seven o'clock in the morning. We are booked for 10 and 11 o'clock which seems pretty early when we have our morning coffee: after last night's musk dinner we went to a 'dance mik' (dance party) in the "pub" along with a large part of the locals.

It is a bright sunny day, so there is no doubt that the flight will take place. We have handed over the key to Augu's snow scooter under the seat of one of his other snow scooters placed in front of his workshop – so that we do not forget this important detail. However, we receive reminders from both Jennifer, who is in charge of the flight check-in and our accommodations, from Anders in the shop and via the telephone. Nothing is left to chance here.

Our flight takes us via the beautiful Hvalrosbugten (the Walrus Bay), where a lonely sledge is heading for town. Milton films the flight route through the valleys. My neighbour points out hunting lodges and good lakes for char fishing, and in Hurry Bay we see the fresh tracks made by Augo, Magnus and Gustav this morning as they are out repairing a lodge and placing depots. In order not to return empty-handed, they shoot a musk ox on the way home. This place truly holds an immense quality of life.

We are the rear party of our high quality sampling crew which (film crew included) counted 21 persons at a time. We are "high" on the successful outcome of the expedition. We have gathered more than 1,500 samples taken from 9 out of 10 polar bears shot while we were here. And this in spite of the fact that the ice conditions were the most difficult within living memory.

Normally, more polar bears would have been shot during this period of time; in return our polar bears have probably been shot closer to Kap Tobin/Uunarteq and Scoresbysund/Ittoqqortoormiit than usual. This means that the quality of our samples is better than expected.

Our liquid nitrogen samples will be sent via air freight to NERI in Roskilde in the beginning of next week, preferably without delays. We cannot breathe again until all samples have reached their destination – and things can go wrong with this kind of freight. Back home we will distribute the samples, fill the dry shippers (special kind of packaging, red.) with nitrogen and take care of freight documents and permissions before we send part samples to Copenhagen, Trondheim, Ottawa, Michigan and Connecticut after having put aside our own samples. The same will be done when our ship freight arrives in September with the normal freeze samples. Our equipment follows another itinerary before it is reused for other projects.

We can look back upon a successful expedition where we attained a large number of our objects:

• We established a well-run field station in Kap Tobin with colleagues from four out of eight arctic countries.
• We took more than 1,500 samples from nine polar bears. Samples that have never before been obtained, neither from Greenland nor from anywhere else in the Arctic.
• We have strengthened the local contacts in Scoresbysund, which is and will remain the cornerstone of our research programmes in East Greenland.
• We have given feedback to hunters and locals on the knowledge that we have obtained during the last 25 years regarding pollution in polar bears and the health of the animals.
• We have strengthened and increased our cooperation within the international research group working with effects in arctic top carnivores.
• We have formulated a strategy for our continued cooperation regarding arctic field stations.

In the light of these achievements, we shall try to continue the success and the efforts to strengthen the effect cooperation across the arctic frontiers. To be able to do so, we shall have to find more funds and to keep Kap Tobin as the one place in the world, where this kind of polar bear samples can be obtained. There are also other important areas in Greenland where similar work can be done and which will complement the East Greenland bear project. For the moment, we look forward to seeing the results of the work made by the 21 persons who visited Kap Tobin.

With thanks

The expedition, the field station and part of the subsequent analyses and work were supported financially by the DANCEA programme of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency. A number of programmes and foundations have supported the preceding part projects, which are the basis for our work, including DANCEA, KVUG, Lundbeckfonden and Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

We should like to thank Scoresbysund/Ittoqqortoormiit School for letting us borrow the school in Kap Tobin.

And finally we should like to thank all the hunters who brought us the bears for the project and who patiently assisted us in the sampling.

Simonsen & Holst, Nukissiorfiit, Ittoqqortoormiit Guesthouse, Nanu Travel for their initial help with practical matters in connection with the school in Kap Tobin and KNAPK for letting us participate in a hunters meeting. We would like to thank Jonas Brønlund for almost 30 years of helping us collecting polar bears and for translating our information letter prior to the start of the project. Blue Water Service, Bjarne Thorsen (Ittoqqortoormiit), Simonsen & Holst and Atli (Island) for the responsible work securing the important nitrogen packages.

We have finalized our sampling with an amazing 5 bears during the last 26 hours. A 125 per cent increase over the last day.

Milton has run out of cell growth medium and our nitrogen container is filled to the brim with samples kept at -175°C for 5 institutions. In total, we have samples from 9 out of the 10 bears shot during our stay. Lots of hugs are exchanged between our team members and between hunters and researchers.

8-9 March 2011

While eating breakfast I throw a glance out of the window and suddenly see a walrus swimming in a hole in the ice between land and the pack ice a little further out, right in front of our camp and less than 100 meters from the coast. This is the walrus that Christian and Hjalmar have been hunting during the past few days. We send them a quick message via the VHF radio and a few minutes afterwards we can see Hjalmar scanning the water from a small hilltop near the edge of the beach. Walrus is an important item of food for hunters and dogs, and as it is a prey for polar bears we have an interest in it too. On this trip we have already gathered samples for analyses of fatty acids in the food of polar bears from ringed seal, Greenland seal, narwhale, walrus and musk-ox, but we can always use more samples!

We are in daily contact with the hunters Christian Josefsen and Hjalmar Hammeken, and they are not just anybodies. Both are renowned hunters and have during their lives as hunters shot, respectively, 206 and 54 polar bears. If we add to this the bears shot by Hjalmar’s brothers – 101 by Ababa and 30-40 by Inutas – we reach the impressive number of ca. 400 bears during an approximately 30-year period. During these many years the hunters have, of course, gathered an immense knowledge of polar bears. Knowledge that may come to our benefit if we know how to ask the right questions.

There is no doubt that the hunters have the best knowledge of the bears through their almost daily observations and the cutting up of the animals after the hunting. Therefore, it seems obvious to ask the hunters whether they have noticed any changes in the bears during the years, indicating effects of pollution, effects that are impossible to measure without advanced sampling equipment. Before initiating our effect studies in the area we made an interview investigation back in 1998-1998 among the hunters in the area around Scoresbysund/Ittoqqortoormiit and Ammassalik/Tasiilaaq with assistance from the experienced anthropologists Hanne Tuborg and Birger Sandell. One of the reports treated information on polar bears with deformities in East Greenland, the other the number and catch of bears in East Greenland.

A total of 52 hunters were interviewed who together provided information on 1,110 polar bears. The hunters gave only one example of odd behaviour by a polar bear, but deformities were described: 6 nipples instead of the normal 4; 6 or 7 claws or missing claws instead of the usual 5. A missing back paw, a few cases of strange fur and skin conditions, and an enlarged clitoris of a female bear, i.e. only few observations compared to the large number of bears with which the hunters had been in contact.

The interview investigation did not reveal an increased frequency of cancer in polar bears, and there was no indication that the number of parasites or infections was increasing either. Changes observed in the animals were the subject of my follow-up conversation with Ossaqaq Qujauqitsoq last night. Ossaqaq is an active debater in the hunter community around Qaanaaq, located in Thule/Avanersuaq in North-West Greenland. He is greatly concerned about the changes observed by hunters in recent year. As Greenland telephone prices are exorbitant we were not able to discuss the subject in any depth; instead we agreed to meet for a discussion when he next visits Denmark. Ossaqaq told me that this suited him well as he is to meet the Crown Prince soon anyway!

Our interview investigation on the size of the polar bear population, its refuge areas and documentation of the then hunting pattern methods were somewhat more concrete. Particularly the hunting pattern has changed markedly in recent years. The long expeditions where the hunters left their own villages for weeks or even months have long been history.

This is due to the reduction of the ice cover in the past years, particularly in winter, rendering conditions for sledge trips unfavourable. The month-long polar bear expeditions northwards into the Northeast Greenland National Park, the world’ largest nature park, and down the Blosseville Coast must therefore, sadly, be regarded as a thing of the past.

Sandell, H.T., B. Sandell, E.W. Born, R. Dietz & C. Sonne-Hansen 2001. Isbjørne i Østgrønland. En interviewundersøgelse om forekomst og fangst, 1999. Teknisk Rapport nr. 40, 2001, Grønlands Naturinstitut: 94 pp.”). (in danish, short summary in english though - loads very slowly, ed.)

We also sent Steen Andersen off to Scoresbysund together with Magnus who had delivered 220 l oil with the local tank lorry. We used the opportunity to send our Polish colleague Tomasz Ciesielski to town on one of our rented snow scooters to fetch supplies. The snow scooter leaked petrol from a hole in the bottom pan of the carburettor. The problem was quickly fixed by the creative mechanics at Augo’s garage with a little plastic padding – a solution termed “a typical Russian” by Tomasz, which elicited much laughter from Augo, Magnus and the other staff. Having said goodbye to Steen, Tomasz had to return to Kap Tobin on his own, and fortunately the scooter managed it OK, thanks to the “Russian trick”. Magnus helped him get over the mountain with the sledge, though, as it has got stuck more than once.

Packing up our equipment in the school for our trip home, I had a constructive conversation with the school leader Gustav Brandt. We agreed that we could leave part of our gear, including our newly bought 2 KW Honda generator. Leaving part of the equipment will, of course, reduce the cost of continuing our work within the area, if this proves possible. At the same time the school of Kap Tobin may benefit from the generator, allowing it to be used as a camp school and an excursion spot for the old people’s home. A pure win-win situation. Lovely to experience the mutual help for each other at these latitudes!

6-7 March 2011

We are still waiting. The weather alternates between heavy snow and heavy wind which is expected to culminate at 20 metres per second from the north today. However, we are still confident, based on the fact that the water is now open from here towards the west and towards Scoresbysund/ Ittoqqortoormiit. The last time we had similar conditions, three polar bears were shot immediately after the wind had dropped enough for the hunters to sail out in their small boats.

The hunting conditions here in the Scorebysund area have changed completely since I was here 25 years ago to spend a couple of months collecting samples from the animals. At that time, the ice was solid from here and all the way to Kap Brewster on the other side of the about 40 kilometres wide bay which opens to one the deepest bays in the world.

It is obvious that the ice is thinner this year. Much thinner and often completely gone. This is no doubt a consequence of the climate changes which now manifest themselves very clearly here in East Greenland. Changes make life more difficult for the hunters who are operating in an environment where moving from one place to another is extremely difficult for a considerable part of the year. At the moment, we have neither solid ice for sledding, nor open water for sailing. This is the everyday life right here outside our windows.

Of course, we know that there will be a considerable amount of waiting for this kind of job. It goes without saying that bear samples cannot be ordered for delivery at a specific time. However, during this trip we have succeeded in establishing a setting where we are able to work on other things than what is the primary purpose of the expedition.

In course of time, I have been on a lot of expeditions where you are either crouched in a small damp tent with the wind howling outside and drowning all brain work, or you are on a dog sledge for months or in a small open boat which in no way allows you to open your laptop.

But here in the old schoolhouse we have succeeded in establishing a working environment where you can do more than just wait. You may say that we have simply moved our office to 70°20’N – about 15 latitudes more to the north than usual. So now we are focussed on writing articles, reports, lectures, exchanging knowledge, experiences and ideas, making films and last but not least writing project applications. Earlier today we attended an exiting lecture on how nine different sex hormones can be influenced by environmental pollutants. We have frequent vivid scientific discussions and thought-provoking contributions from the wide range of scientists who are staying at our field station. A truly inspiring power centre.

On top of all this, I have managed along with my colleagues to prepare a useful application draft which will be the basis for our continued effect work here and in other areas of the Arctic. Writing applications takes up more and more of our working and leisure time, and I shouldn't wonder at all if many people have the impression that we scientists just sit back and "scrounge" off public funds.

Reality is quite different. We have to find means from external sources ourselves for all our projects. Not even our salary comes from our employer; it has to be found outside the system, too. In return, our employer offers us a fixed price at which we must offer and book our work. This price often means that an insufficient amount of time is set aside for our work, and once again this can only be compensated by running even faster or by using the small hours of the morning. In this context too, a field trip is a magnificent thing, as in principle we can be focussed on performing our job 16-18 hours a day; here we recover quite a lot of work.

Monday around noon, Hjalmar Hammeken calls me to ask if we should take one of our snow scooters and drive to the top of the eastern mountain to look for polar bears.

No sooner said than done. From the high vantage point we can see the females with their cubs close to the town which we observed Saturday. Next to the overturned navigation mark Hjalmar succeeds – after a concentrated effort – in spotting a bear at some distance out in the pack ice.

Hjalmar signals our observation to Christian Josefsen by bending over in an angle that imitates the front part of the polar bear. Christian is on the southern point of Kap Tobin looking for a walrus that the two hunters observed earlier today. From a distance we can see both the walrus and Christian, but a big ice floe between them prevents Christian from seeing the walrus.

On our way back to town we drive by the 60 °C hot spring which Kap Tobin/Uunarteq (West Greenland: Unartoq) is named after. If we were to build a pool around the spring, we could have a much needed bath. If there had still been a permanent settlement here in Kap Tobin, it would probably have been possible to establish an efficient "green" district heating station.

4 March 2011

Today, five of our participants will return to their respective countries. Martin Hansen, Denmark, Gro Villanger and Kristin Møller Gabrielsen, Norway, who have been with us from the start, and Rob Letcher, Canada, and Nil Basu, USA, who have been here the past week. With assistance from Augo Barselejsen the three snow scooters with two sledges in tow move along after final agreements and hugs have been exchanged. Quietness descends on our remaining team of 8, now when both our colleagues and the British film unit – a couple of days ago – have left Kap Tobin.

The hunters Christian Josefsen and Hjalmar Hammeken, on the lookout for polar bears together with a younger hunter, Steffen, pay us a visit. Our oil heater cut out during the night, and when we accidentally mention this to Christian he immediately starts to take the heater apart to replace a nozzle. Our tools are not ideal for this kind of work, but this does not deter the experienced hunter who has lifelong experience in tackling any emergency. On his knees in front of the cold heater Christian patiently performs magic with my Leatherman and some nails. Three quarters of an hour later he cleans the oil off his hands. The heater is on again and we switch off our kerosene heater, brought only for safety’s sake. Christian has more than deserved his cup of coffee and some packs of cigarettes, which are almost unattainable at these latitudes.

This is not the first time that Christian has come to the field station’s aid. As described earlier, three of us were caught in the wind when visiting Scoresbysund last week. The heavy wind was too much for the heater, and Christian came to our rescue. Long before the field team knew what the problem was, he had found a paint can, made holes in it and, despite his 64 years, swung himself to the top of the roof in order to mount the windbag on the chimney in the almost hurricane-like wind.

The competences of the hunters, here in their own country and their right element, never seize to amaze you. My list of the superiority of the hunters to us ‘pale faces’ regarding all practical matters has grown long during my 30 years of experience up here. Whether the task involves driving a dog sledge or a snow scooter, sailing a dinghy or a ship in the pack ice, interpreting the weather or cutting up an animal in the bitter cold, they are masters of the situation and even have the energy to give us the benefit of their knowledge with a smile, without the least trace of arrogance. Here you live in close contact with nature and the elements, and if you are not skilled you simply cannot survive.

We – and my Leatherman – have been invited to Christian’s house to solve some problems with Hjalmar’s rifle. Of course, we accept the invitation, but before reaching the house Hjalmar has already taken off east with his dogs towards the eastern cape Nooraiva in the direction of Kap Swainson.

From Christian’s house I once more enjoy the breath-taking view. Even the richest among Danes hardly has a view to compete in beauty with this. When Hjalmar returns he remembers having spoken to Osaqaq Qujaoqitsoq from Qaanaaq in Thule/Avanersuaq, North-West Greenland, who wanted to talk to us.

I wonder what Osaqaq may want and how he has learnt about our project, but realize that Osaqaq and other hunters from Thule have a keen interest in that their animals of prey are fit and healthy. For the same reason we last year wrote a pamphlet to elucidate some of the changes and anomalies observed in Thule and the southern areas. Our vet Christian Sonne visited Greenland and arranged a meeting with the hunters, the Greenland minister of the interior, Anton Frederiksen, and a number of other civil servants from the Greenland self government. Perhaps Oaaanaaq will be one of our future targets for high quality samplings – this seems fairly probable, as we are already gathering polar bears, narwhales and ringed seal from Thule with assistance from the hunters there.

3 March 2011

Wake up around 6.30. Heavy gusts of wind from the west shake the entire house and this is what tears me away from the arms of Morpheus. I scowl at the outdoor thermometer: minus 13.9^oC. The wind is probably some 15-20 metres per second, which gives us a chill factor corresponding to a temperature on the wrong side of minus 30 ^o C. I recall my childhood winter stay in Småland (Sweden), and there I seem to find the reason why I became a polar explorer. As if there is a direct line from then to now where I – with the assistance of good colleagues – collect yet another year's samples from the polar bear population. I distinctly remember how my brother and I slept in igloos at night, and in the daytime we went exploring the Swedish forests wearing anoraks, bows and arrows and a polar bear head on a home-made sledge.

I check the local weather forecast. It says light to moderate winds which will decrease during the day. Not exactly what I can see outside my snow-covered windows. I sincerely hope that the wind decreases so that the hunters can go hunting again.

We are privileged by the fact that the hunters are interested in the same things as we are. The other day, when Jan Lorenzen and Inuta Hammeken came by our temporary field station, we had a cup of coffee and got to talk about a walrus that they had caught between Christmas and New Year 2009. They asked me if I could tell them more about precisely that animal. "An old acquaintance" on which I had put a satellite transmitter in July/August 2009 for the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources. It was tagged on Sandøen in Young Sund more than 500 kilometres to the North where 11 other walruses were equipped with satellite transmitters at the same time. I had followed the migration of the walrus from my home base along with other arctic zoologists, and I had noted its death when the transmitter suddenly became stationary in Scorebysund.

When the hunters killed the walrus during Christmas that year and informed us that they had our satellite transmitter, my good colleague Erik Born sent them a map with indication of the walrus' migration. Jan and Inuta were tremendously fascinated by that technology.

This shows me that in the big picture, the hunters and the scientists have the same speculations and the same priorities; namely the animals, nature and the correlation between human beings, wild animals and our present life style – with all its consequences.

It is therefore obvious to everyone here in Kap Tobin during these two weeks that we must relate more closely to the hunters than we have done before. Meet them where they live their lives and tell them what we are doing. As a matter of fact, we are on the same side and both parties tend to forget this from time to time.

2 March 2011

The sun is beginning to shine on the Scoresbysund polynia. The morning peace is a relief and I am stooping over my work at the computer. Suddenly the peace is broken by our Greenland telephone. Jan Lorenzen from the filling station is on the line to tell us that he has just seen Åge D. Hammeken shoot a bear on the outskirts of the town. The call is very short and immediately after, I first call Åge's uncle and then his farther who are both on their way down to help the young hunter secure the animal. We quickly agree that they will bring the bear to us while I try to wake up the scientist team.

At first, a couple of sleeping sceptics think that it is a practical joke, but soon they find out that I am serious and everyone quickly fling on their clothes. Shortly after, we are all ready on the ice foot with our equipment.

Soon afterwards we see a small dot approaching and it turns out to be Åge and his three helpers. We find a place where we can drag the bear ashore without smudging the skin, and the tackle system that we had prepared functions as planned. Even though we have already set up the balance, we refrain from weighing the entire bear to save a couple of important minutes: our first priority is to take living cells from the bear and to transfer them to the liquid nitrogen. Instead, we piece the weight together during the sampling – like a kit so to speak.

The activity in the laboratory of our temporary field station is now concentrated and focused.

In a breathtaking race against time, Milton Levin has started securing the living cells from the spleen and the lymph glands for his immune-assays and serum from the blood plasma for the measuring of cytokines.

Using a small electronic microscope he projects the cells to his computer screen where the first part of a scientific breakthrough shows that the cells are still alive. A crucial basis for his further experiments. This kind of work simply has never been made before.

Here we are with cells from the strongest animal on Earth which lives exclusively on fat. Without developing any cardiovascular diseases, diabetes or similar infirmities. I ask myself if these specialized cells may contain the solution to our present great problems with overweight and diabetes. There is no doubt either that the polar bear has developed mechanisms to avoid osteopsathyrosis during the up to six-month hibernation of the females.

1 March 2011

Today began with an inspiring discussion. In recent years a seemingly wild idea has finally taken shape and this morning it was as if the final recipe appeared.

It has long been my aim to establish a strong network of international researchers contributing to an active monitoring of the Arctic environment. And this morning in Kap Tobin, half way between teeth brushing and breakfast, accompanied by a clear blue sky and a dazzling sunset, Nil Basu and Robert Letcher gave the decisive input allowing me to sketch out the course for turning an old idea into new research.

Basically, we agree that our initiative is both ambitious and relevant. Therefore, we all feel certain that we will be able to attract international sponsors as part of the financial basis for an “Arctic Effect Network”, the present name of this warning centre for environmentally associated damages and diseases in Arctic animals.

The first step is to ensure the translation of our blog from Danish into English, and this is already in progress.

The next step is to elaborate a relatively short and clear application to be submitted to private foundations – potential candidates exist. This part of the plan is somewhat revolutionary, as amounts within the range DKK 50,000-100,000 would usually be too small for our type of research.

However, an amount of this size would suffice to finance a complete field season. And with an established field station right here where the problems occur first and most pronouncedly, all of a sudden we have the possibility of obtaining relevant research results with otherwise inadequate amounts. And what is new is that where only few foundations awarding large-sized grants for international research exist, many more can be approached when smaller amounts are required, for instance to the establishment of a permanent field station.

A positive response to our applications will allow continuation of the dose-response studies of immune systems and sexual hormones as sub-projects without using the grants and donations obtained in support of the field station from the Danish DANCEA-programme under the Ministry of Environment.

The enthusiastic atmosphere was further reinforced when our Greenland telephone rang and Hjalmar Hammeken informed us that he was on his way to visit us as the weather had cleared and the wind shifted to the northwest. He also told us that the polar bear skin that we have purchased for our planned investigations is now ready for shipment.

Immediately a team was ready to go to the village to fetch the skin and gather food, water and fuel. In the midst of the preparations Augo and Magnus arrived and asked whether we were ready to follow them to Scoresbysund with the film unit which is on its way southwards. The supplies-gathering team was ready in a jiffy!

A few hours later Scoresby Hammeken went by, accompanied by another hunter in their search for bears. And the rumour has it that also Christian Josefsen, the village’s oldest inhabitant and one of the greatest polar bear hunters, is on his way. With the presence of three experienced hunters in this abandoned village where we stay, it is almost as if the village is restored to the glory of former days when Kap Tobin was the district’s centre of polar bear hunting.

We invited the British film crew for dinner, but they thanked no, as they still felt slightly hungover after the joint dinner last Saturday followed by an almost sleepless night.

However, the film crew went round in the evening for a cup of coffee with a small whisky. As this was the last time we were together all 21 of us we used the opportunity to take a group photo beyond the stars and northern lights.

25 February 2011

By the end of the afternoon, Åge Hammeken, one of the young hunters, is the first to call us, and ten minutes later Marius Madsen is on the line. They are both on their way to Kap Tobin with a polar bear they have just killed. At first, we wonder if it could be one and the same bear. However, we haste to bring our equipment down to the ice foot by the sea to be ready to receive two polar bears.

While we struggle to prepare a landing place, Marius Madsen arrives with a large bear in tow. Slowly I realize that they are indeed talking about two different bears, and that they are both on their way to our field station in Kap Tobin.

We decide to start by taking samples from the bear that was shot last, and we quickly organize to get it on shore immediately.

The sampling passes off better than the first one even though both polar bears arrive almost at the same time which makes the atmosphere a bit hectic.

Fortunately, the bear we throw ourselves into first is shot less than 30 minutes ago, and this means that we can take the samples on liquid nitrogen which is one of our top ambitions during this expedition. It means that we can subsequently work with the live white blood cells, with liver enzymes and with the hormone production of the adrenal glands and the thyroid gland.

After the sample treatment, the excitement subsides; during the first week we have obtained unique high-quality samples from three out of the planned ten polar bears.

23 February 2011

As soon as the shop opens we are busy gathering supplies. Before that I ride by snow scooter to the radio mountain to fetch a Greenland SIM-card, as the expensive telephone calls via Denmark might hamper our communication with the hunters.

On my way up the radio mountain the blizzard becomes more severe and I wonder whether we will succeed in getting back to Kap Tobin today. When the Greenland mobile connection is secured, I ask for an updated weather report. It shows that the blizzard has arrived half a day earlier than expected.

Down by the shop I meet Magnus Anike who tells me that it is far too dangerous to ride over the mountain to Kap Tobin. We have to stay in Scoresbysund until the blizzard is over.

This Sunday Christian Josefsen moved to Kap Tobin to stay in his cottage on the top of the southward side of the mountain.

We paid him a visit to explain our presence in Kap Tobin. While we were drinking coffee and talking about the catches in recent years, of which he has kept accurate statistics, his eyes never left the ice. He constantly scanned the ice edge and the horizon.

Christian did not earn the title as ‘great hunter’ without making an effort. In 2010 he shot five bears and in 2009 six bears.

One of our first tasks Sunday was to obtain an overview of the sample types desired by ourselves and our colleagues. The job of packing sampling bags and preparing schedules of the order, quantity and methods for treating and preserving samples proved to be quite demanding.

Late in the evening the first round of the preparations had been completed, and we went for an evening stroll to enjoy the northern lights frequently to be seen at this time of year.

22 February 2011

Electricity and heating are now available in the old school of Kap Tobin. And our equipment has arrived from Scoresbysund. A 5-6 km trip by snow scooter with fully loaded sledges lasts about an hour. With local support from magnificient Augo and Magnus it took two trips with four scooters.

The result is that eight scientists, a total of 50 boxes, an unknown number of cartons with supplies and rucksacks with personal equipment have now arrived at the old school, where efficiency and a kind of rustic cheerful atmosphere is gaining a footing.

We split the trip in two phases, and while the first team went to Kap Tobin, three persons stayed to plan an information meeting with the hunters and also to buy and wrap the last provisions. Shortly after noon, the last team left for Kap Tobin bringing along the rest of the equipment and a vital supply of fuel and fresh water.

As a matter of fact, one of the more demanding tasks was to get the fresh articles of food and the water inside as quickly as possible, as a day temperature of minus 15 degrees makes everything freeze into a useless lump.

Friday, a vanguard went to the old school in Kap Tobin to make minor repairs to the school's furnace and the electrical system. Unfortunately, it was impossible to save the water supply given the time and budget available to us, and we therefore have to do without running water. But light and heat are functioning brilliantly.

The total area of the school is around 200 m² divided into 12 rooms, and this makes it by and large perfect for our purpose.

Late in the afternoon we were informed that a polar bear had been spotted close to Scorebysund and that it would probably be shot by the local hunters. We advised the British film unit so that they could get some shots from the hunt and the flensing.