Home > Research > IRIS > Hailuoto Fieldwork Photos

Hailuoto Fieldwork Photographs

This is a selection of photographs taken by me during the 2004 field season. We were based at Bothnian Bay Research Station at Marjaniemi on the island of Hailuoto near Oulu in northern Finland.

During fieldwork, which lasted from 21 February to 6 March, we saw active ridging of sea ice and the opening of a sea ice lead.

Aerial Photos:

Marjaniemi from the air. These photos were taken on a helicopter flight on 22 February. This one shows the harbour with the 3 wind turbines. In the foreground are the buildings of the Bothnian Bay Research Station including our sleeping quarters and laboratory - the tall red hut with the white van outside.

The coast guard station at Marjaniemi - the white building beneath the lighthouse.

Sunset:

The icy main street of Marjaniemi at sunset.

Sunset over fast ice near the 'beach' at Marjaniemi.

Toys 1 - Helicopter:

The helicopter was used by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) scientists for flying an Electo-Magnetic (EM) ice thickness sensor ("the EM Bird") and for reconnaissance. The loading area was the car park and bus stop on the public road outside the research station. Please look up before entering Finnish car parks in winter!

Helicopter equipment delivery to the field site

We also used the helicopter to get any equipment which was too heavy for the skidoos out to the main field site - 10 kilometres from Marjaniemi. In this case it has just landed the hot water drill belonging to Kvaerner Masa-Yards.

Toys 2 - Hot Water Drills

The field team had two hot water drills to play with. This photo shows the SAMS system in action on one of the few days of grey, overcast weather we had. The whole system fits on a sledge which can be towed across the ice by a skidoo.

Drilling holes in the ice allows us to drop a measuring tape through and determine how thick the ice is. The ice thickness value is used to calibrate other indirect measures of ice thickness such as those obtained from the EM sensors.

Both the SAMS and the Kvaerner Masa-Yards hot water drills are tempermental to use. However when they are working (about 25% of the time) they are great for turning ice into Swiss cheese! Here my colleague Jeremy is drilling across a sea ice ridge.

Here is my other colleague on the fieldwork, Joao, measuring ice thickness. This involves dangling a weighted measuring tape through the hole in the ice. In theory the weight catches the underside of the ice allowing you to get a reading but often it gets stuck!

Jeremy conquering the ice ridge.

Toys 3 - Skidoos

As our main field site was 10 kilometres from our base in Marjaniemi we needed a means of transport to get the field team and their equipment out to work. Every morning and evening a convoy of three skidoos pulling sledges could be seen following the same well-worn track across the sea ice.