Fragments from fieldwork on Svalbard, summer 2025. I felt truly blessed to experience my fourth summer campaign on the archipelago, continuing existing collaborations, setting up new ones and celebrating good news about research grants. I also got thrown into the water and evacuated because of an approaching bear.

We were treated to rich birdlife again, spotting king eiders, red-throated divers, phalaropes, long-tailed skua’s and so much more.

Why did we get thrown into the water: to practice boat travel safety and swimming in a drysuit. Making a landing requires careful inspection of the coast and the tundra beyond (for bears) and making sure those responsible for safety equipment such as rifles go on land first. We also check all communication systems, store the boat suits and emergency bag in a sensible way and make a plan before we can start field measurements. There is a lot to take into account beside the actual fieldwork itself, but going arund Svalbard by boat is extremely rewarding.

And sometimes we travel on land, going on a leisurely saturday afternoon walk to one of the many valleys and mountaintops around Longyearbyen and write our names in one of the logbooks.

Arriving to Ny-Alesund on July 14th, we were immediately treated to pastis and petanque by the staff of the German-French AWIPEV station to celebrate the French National Day. That, and ….

.. our first bear sighting of the season! A mother and cub on Prins Heinrichoya. We saw three more bears that week.

Our work in Ny-Alesund included a trip to Kvadehuken, which got cut short by an approaching bear. We had to quickly wrap up measurements and return to be picked up by a boat to take us back to town. An hour later, the bear was sighted at the exact spot where the boat had come ashore.

Other work included vegetation surveys at the Bayelva permafrost observatory, sampling willows for a tree-ring project, and scouting research sites for future projects through our rosy-coloured glasses.

And some smaller, one day activities..