CONTACT: IRENEUSZ SOBOTA - Department of Cryology and Polar Research, Institute of Geography, Gagarina Str. 9, 87-100 Toruń, POLAND irso@umk.pl

Location of the N.Copernicus University Polar Station

The Polar Station of the University of Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish: Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika – UMK) is located in the western part of the Oscar II Land, in the northern part of the coastal Kaffioyra Lowland which is closed by the Forlandsundet from the west. The N.Copernicus University Polar Station is situated in the area called Heggodden, about 150 metres from the seacoast and at the foot of the head moraines of the Aavatsmarkbreen.
There were a few reasons for selecting the above site for the N.Copernicus University Polar Station. Predominantly, they include the following two: a large diversity of the environment of the area, and a relatively small distance form the glaciers which pose the main object of the research. Moreover, in the close vicinity the N.Copernicus University Polar Station there is a deep bay of Hornbaek. It makes a good shelter for ships and enables the expedition members to load and unload during stormy weather. Additionally, as early as mid-June the Forland Strait is free from ice. During summer season pack ice does not pose any threats to navigation. Small inter-moraine lakes provide enough drinking water during the polar summer season. Another element which upgrades the attractiveness of the location of the N.Copernicus University Polar Station is its relative closeness to Ny Alesund, a settlement which is a large international research centre. The Forland Strait is en route of small ships which run between Longyearbyen and Ny Alesund. Besides, the N.Copernicus University Polar Station is located outside national parks and reserves. As a result, moving around and carrying out research is quite easy.

History of the research

Scientific exploration of the Kaffioyra dates back to 1938. It was then that the first glaciological expedition to the Oscar II Land was inspired by Professor Antoni Dobrowolski, the Head of the Board of the Polar Section of the Association for Scientific Expeditions. The research area was selected by Reader Ludwik Sawicki. The studies included mainly the foreland of the Kaffioyra glaciers. For many years this area was researched by Professor Mieczysław Klimaszewski, who in 1960 published the dissertation titled “Geomorphological studies of the West Spitsbergen area between Kongsfjord and Eidembukta”. The paper includes a detailed description of the forms and deposits, as well as glacial and periglacial processes of the Kaffioyra region. This was first such publication on the region. As a result, a group of geographers from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń decided to organize an expedition into the same area to conduct comparative research. In 1975 the first Toruń Polar Expedition set sail. It was conducted by Professor Jan Szupryczyński from the Geography Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The expedition worked in two teams. The first one carried out the research in the southern part of the Kaffiyora Lowland, while the second one in its northern part. The northern team, headed by Professor Czesław Pietrucień, concentrated on hydrological and glaciological studies. That year, on the initiative of Professor Czesław Pietrucień, a special building was constructed by the moraines of the Aavatsmark Glacier. It was the beginning of the contemporary polar station.
In 1995 a new cycle of the summer expeditions to the Polar Station began, and in 1996 a series of spring expeditions was initiated. The main aim of these expeditions has been to study winter snow accumulation on the glaciers in the Kaffioyra region, observations of winter outflow from the glaciers, geodesic work undertaken in the place inaccessible in summer, and penetration of glacier caves and tunnels. Since then, the expeditions have been headed by Marek Grześ, Ireneusz Sobota or Krzysztof R. Lankauf. As many as 300 people have taken part in the expeditions so far. These have mainly included scientists, but also climbers, speleologists and scuba-divers.

Studied issues

The Kaffioyra region, together with the adjoining Aavatsmarkbreen (75 km2) and the Dahlbreen (132 km2), as well as the six glaciers flowing down into the Kaffioyra (28 km2), takes up the area of about 310 km2. It makes up a mere 12% of the area of the Oscar II Land. Mountain chains, valley glaciers and their marginal zones, together with the coastal Kaffioyra, take 103 km2. The Kaffioyra, which is only 14 km long and 4 km wide, is a great place for scientific research due to its biological variety. Long-lasting measurements gave rise to a topographic map of the Kaffioyra, which includes both the elements of relief and geological structure.
The undertaken research included almost all components of the geographical environment. Scientific programs put pressure on research in glaciology, glacial geomorphology, permafrost and periglacial processes, as well as climatologic and botanical studies. Since 1995 glaciological research and the studies of permafrost of various ground types and their seasonal thawing, as well as meteorological observations have been the major issues on the research agenda.
Glaciers pose the dominating feature of the Kaffioyra region. Since the 19th century their area has decreased by about 30%. Thus, one of the main scientific issues studied there is the course and the reasons for the change in the glaciers’ range. This can be achieved by studying mass balance of the glaciers. Presently, mass balance of four glaciers is studied: the Waldemarbreen, the Irenebreen, the Elisebreen and the Aavatsmarkbreen. The research includes both the summer balance (ablation and outflow from the glaciers) and the winter snow accumulation. The detailed research plans also refer to two large glaciers which end up in the sea. Those are the Aavatsmarkbreen in the north and the Dahlbreen in the south of the Kaffioyra. Currently, subaquatic glacial relief of the bays in the Forlandsundet region is under scrupulous investigation. The results of the research can be obtained from the station’s website, from the publications by the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS- IAHS), as well as the website of the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM- IPA) and from the other publications and papers.

Extension of the N.Copernicus University Polar Station in 2007

The 31st Polar Expedition of the UMK to Spitsbergen took place between 28 June and 3 September 2007. The members of the expedition included the following: Ireneusz Sobota (the head of Station and a glaciologist), Michał Król (a glaciologist and a PhD student), Rafał Maszewski (a meteorologist), Przemysław Wyszyński (a meteorologist and a PhD student), Krzysztof Przybylski (a student), Dariusz Witkowski (a student), as well as Zbigniew Konieczka and Krzysztof Zieliński – the N.Copernicus University staff (carpenters). The research carried out during the expedition was connected with the current scientific projects, as well as the tasks connected with the 4th International Polar Year. The station also hosted Erich Heucke for a week, the member of the Commission for Glaciology of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Munich, the constructor of a steam drill for ice drillings. Moreover, a team of participants of the IAG/AIG Regional Conference on Geomorphology „Geodiversity of polar landforms” arrived to learn the results of the research undertaken at the station.
The most important goal of the expedition, however, was the extension of the station. It was possible thanks to many people, especially the Rector of the UMK, Professor A. Jamiołkowski, and the vice-Rector on Education and International Co-operation, Professor A. Tretyn, who had supported our team in all the undertakings leading to the extension of the station. The very construction of the station’s extension took the entire July and was done by all the station staff taking part in the expedition. The extension, in fact, was constructed back in Poland, based on the project supervised by M. Grześ, and was first built in front of the university carpenters’ workshop. Next it was disassembled and packed for transportation. The original project, however, had to be adjusted to the local conditions in Spitsbergen.
All the elements of the station, abort 20 tons, were transported to Gdynia, where they were loaded onto the Horyzont II to be shipped to Spitsbergen. The elements of the station made a record-large load, the shipment of which was possible thanks to Krzysztof Makowski from the company „Naviga” from Gdynia, Piotr Głowacki from the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, as well as the Boatswain and the crew of the ship and, predominantly, Captain Roman Matulewski.
The expedition members got onboard in Longyerabyen in Spitsbergen, from where the voyage to Kaffioyra began. Alas, on arrival off shore the Kaffioyra the storm broke, which made the unloading impossible. After the discussion with the Captain, the Boatswain and the Chief, the team decided to wait until 8 am next day. Next morning, despite the unchanged weather conditions, the unloading began. It was raining very heavily and the wind was strong. The team used two dinghies, one belonging to the expedition and the other one which was the ship equipment. The expedition dinghy was steered by Ireneusz Sobota and Michał Król, while the other one by the Chief with one of the crew members. Meanwhile, all the other expedition members worked onshore, collecting the unloaded boxes. The entire action took about 25 hours. It was an extremely hard work which can only be understood by those who took part in it.
The following days were devoted to the demolition of the old building of the station and the construction of the new one. First, the expedition members had to transport all the elements of the new structure to the station site, either on their back or using a small trolley. Step by step, all the new elements of the construction were moved to the site and the building was erected. All the expedition members were in good mood and happy to work hard and did everything they could to help. On 1 August the new building of the station was ready and thus the dream of many people was fulfilled.
It must be stressed this expedition was one of the most important ones. We hope the new station will serve and give protection to numerous expeditions and visiting scientists.

The station today and the perspectives

Once the station has had an extension addend, it can host 10-15 people at any one time. The new section of the station is 32 sq. m downstairs and 24 sq. m upstairs. This includes a study, a workshop, a bedroom as well as two bedroom entresols. The extension is connected with the old section of the station, which includes a living room and a bedroom, but there is also a separate entrance to the new part of the station. Additionally, the station gained extra storage floor, a laboratory, a bathroom, as well as a garage to keep boats, snowmobiles and engines. All together the station now has about 100 sq. m.
The station is used 3 to 4 months annually, but it is possible to stay there for as long as a whole year. It is equipped with necessary technical facilities, motor-generators, solar panels, motorboats and snowmobiles. More important measurement equipment includes: a weather station with the basic measuring instruments (the measurements conducted since 1975); automatic weather stations (with the measurements taken at any intervals); limnigraphs and loggers installed in the selected watercourses (measurements of water levels, flow rates and the selected physicochemical features of water since 1975); a system of ablation poles installed on the glaciers; ice drills; loggers for measuring ground temperatures and ice temperatures, and others.
The extension of the station will enable larger groups of scientists to work and conduct research. The fact that both the living and laboratory space has been enlarged is especially important, as the station is often visited by scientists from all over the world. As a result, the extension will make it possible to intensify current international contacts, as well as start new co-operation projects in the Kaffioyra region. Moreover, most Polish polar research in the north-west Spitsbergen is based on the N.Copernicus University Polar Station.
The new investment will enable the scientists to use the station all year round. This is especially crucial in terms of the research which needs systematic measurements. As a result, the scope of the studied issues and the number of expedition members will increase. A larger numbers of analyses made directly at the measurement site will lead to the decrease of the research costs, and will make the work both easier and safer for the expedition members.
In the coming years next polar expeditions of the UMK are being planned, as well as scientific conferences and fieldworks based on the N.Copernicus University Polar Station and its facilities.

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PUBLICATIONS

- publication included research of glaciers - NW Spitsbergen (f.g. mass balance, ablation, snow accumulation, runoff)

CRYO-KARST - forms from glaciers over the world

POLAR EXPEDITIONS

Extension on N.Copernicus Polar Station in 2007

XXIX N.Copernicus Polar Expedition

XXVII N.Copernicus Polar Expedition

XXVI N.Copernicus Polar Expedition

XXV N.Copernicus Polar Expedition

XXIV N.Copernicus Polar Expedition

XXII N. Copernicus Polar Expedition

XXI Polar Expedition of UMK to Svalbard


Overwintering on Kaffioyra

XVIII N. Copernicus Polar Expedition

XV N.Copernicus Polar Expedition

The 100 photos of Svalbard

Main page (in polish)

Edited by: Irek Sobota irso@geo.uni.torun.pl