Whoever likes puffins has those images in mind; hundreds of them standing, flying nearby cliffs, with a bill full of sand lances. The chance to see them was one of the highlights of sailing in the Arctic. […]

Time passed too rapidly! The expedition CASE 22 is already over but we would like to keep you updated about the last days on board of Vinson of Antarctica. […]

[…] Behind the white curtain, gently the fog began to indulge us with scenes: First the outline of the island with a distinctive navigation sign of stacked red timbers. Then, out of the middle of that cloud, as if in a dream, a family of walruses appears huddled together.

[…] Keeping our distance we stopped the boat and watched with binoculars (all pairs in play) as this giant who revealed himself as a big male, swam ashore, easily climbed a steep scree slope up on to the moraine and then went straight for the hut.

There are places on earth where you can still feel the same explorers did when going into the unknown. One of those places is undoubtedly the archipelago of the Svalbard Islands, around the 80º parallel, barely a thousand kilometers from the North Pole. […]

Five days ago, we reached Chermdiseøya at about 80.5° N the northernmost possible point of our expedition. The two days on that island were extremely interesting because we found other rocks than expected and the relationships are more complicated than we thought. But this also means that we have to come back to that beautiful place. […]

Some key geological relationships, crucial for unraveling Svalbard’s complex tectonic history only occur in a place called Helvetesflya (hellish flats), which is a narrow corridor between the two ice caps that cover the majority of the large, remote island of Nordaustlandet. Although this area is only seven km from Rijpfjorden, recalcitrant sea ice blocked our passage along the north coast. […]

During our five busy days in Liefdefjorden, we have worked in rocks, which were deformed when Greenland and Scandinavia collided about 440 million years ago. […]

Yesterday, we have seen our first polar bear. He was walking along the shore while we were safe on the Vinson of Antarctica.

Other animal sightings during the last days were Minky whales, walruses, and several seals. […]

The geology of this part of Spitsbergen is highly interesting: The rocks are very old, reaching ages of more than 1000 million years. […]