Travelling across West Greenland is probably one the most unique experiences I had the chance to live. Sharing seven weeks of fieldwork in a couple of lines is not an easy task but let’s start with the beginning – the reunion with Brandon, my field mate and friend from the […]

Today, 11 December 2024, the thermometer on the Zulmart Glacier at 4900 metres above sea level read -30°C. Monitoring the meteorological conditions at nine weather stations scattered across the Central Asian Pamirs and Tien Shan from the warmth of my office in Switzerland, I was transported in my dreams to […]

The day began early with a knock on the door of a shepherd’s hut. A groggy shepherd appeared, surprised to find visitors at this hour with an unusual question: could we rent two horses for the day? The negotiations were straightforward, and minutes later, I was in a saddle for […]

Our journey to the North Pole began in Tromsø, Norway, where we boarded the research vessel Polarstern on August 9, 2024. As I stood in line, I struck up a conversation with the person next to me, only to realize he would be my cabin mate for the next two […]

Tomorrow is a day I have been looking forward to for a while: Raphi and I will going to the Gornergletscher to conduct a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey with our AIRETH system. AIRETH is a helicopter-borne GPR platform that we re-designed in the frame of an SPI Technogrant funded by […]

The flight into Greenland leaves a strong impression. Everyone in the small red plane is leaning towards the windows to stare at the expanse of white below. For a moment you think it must be clouds stretching to the horizon, but then you see the small details, a mountain peak, […]

The ALANA project, based at the University of Bern’s Humanities in Arctic Research platform focuses on uncovering prehistoric human-environment interactions in Alaska’s Brooks Range mountains. It is supported by the Swiss Polar Institute’s Polar Access Fund and its main local archaeological partners are the University of Alaska Fairbanks UAF and […]

Wide open skies, colourful flowers, and stillness all represent the Arctic tundra to me, but the tundra can also be harsh and unforgiving. Difficult logistics, the cold, and mosquitoes are just a few factors that can make botanical fieldwork a real challenge in the North, not to mention the tiny […]

Exploring the lakes of Southern Greenland has been the most professionally joyful time of my career as an evolutionary ecologist. Yearly trips over the past 6 years (with the exception of 2020!) have been a continual source of scientific inspiration. In 2024, the Swiss Polar Institute (SPI) funded an Exploratory […]