My first Arctic fieldwork experience was on Vatnajokull - Iceland's largest ice cap. In October 2008, I was part of a small team from The University of Edinburgh who went out to test a new scientific radar in preparation for fieldwork in Antarctica the following year.
We travelled to Grimsvotn - where a volcanic caldera lies under the ice - in order to investigate how quickly the heat from below was melting the ice.
Transport to the field site was provided by monster trucks driven by two Icelandic guys, both named Hlynnur. It quickly became apparent why they always travel in pairs, when one of the trucks fell into a crevasse and we needed the other one to yank it out with a tow-rope!
After a long day of crossing heavily crevassed glaciers we made it to Grimsfjall hut, which we had to 'de-ice' before we could get inside.
Finally, we were able to settle in to what would be our home for the next week. Over the following 24 hours we experienced a storm which confined us to the hut, after which we were able to get out and conduct our fieldwork as planned.
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