Time for a bit of a catch up. Wednesday the 18th brought some unfavourable weather for flying. We took the opportunity to plan for another flight and start with some data management. Models were showing that low level clouds would be widespread and persistent to the west of Svalbard on Thursday, with a window of opportunity to capture some of these clouds before a slow moving low pressure system brought in mid to high level clouds. During the flight out there were thick low-level clouds over the open ocean, which thinned significantly over the sea ice, showing only very weak reflections in the radar. On the way back in to Longyearbyen, low-level clouds were filling the Kongsfjorden, next to Ny-Ålesund, brought in from the west. We were fortunate to be able to fly a pattern over this somewhat rare occurrence and drop some sondes to profile the clouds, making the crew very happy!

Snowfall was forecast for Friday, and the influence of a low pressure system made conditions unsuitable for flying. It was therefore declared that Friday would be a well deserved day off! During the day, we hiked up the Larsbreen to an ice cave under the glacier! The fresh snowfall was very welcome, and permitted some great sliding on the way back to Longyearbyen.

More unsettled weather on Saturday has made for another day off from flying, but we are taking it as a data and planning day. Cold air outbreak conditions are developing to the west of Svalbard, which look to be stable for the coming week. Mid-level clouds may prevent us from flying on Sunday, but we will wait until later in the day to make this decision. So for now we are keeping an eye on the forecasts and crunching the data that we have collected so far.