• Most penguins support equality, with male and female sharing the rearing of their chick equally. Both will take turns incubating the egg to keep it warm and both will go out to catch food and return to feed the chick.

• The deepest dive by a bird was an emperor penguin that reached 565m! The longest time a penguin has been recorded holding its breath is 22 minutes.

• King and emperor penguins share a strange physical feature. In bright light, when their pupils contract, they become diamond shaped rather than circular. Some of the only animals on earth with pupil of this shape!

• Penguins and polar bears will never naturally meet because the equator is too warm for them to cross, making it a natural boundary line. Penguins only live in the southern hemisphere: the most northern species live in the Galapagos and are kept cool by the cold Humboldt current.

• In 1936, nine king penguins were introduced to northern Norway to increase their range. The birds survived the move but did not thrive in their new environment and the last sighting of a penguin in Norway was 1949. In 1937 one of the penguins was killed after wandering into a farm and being labelled a ‘freak of nature’ by the farm matron who had never seen a penguin before.

The seed vault was completed in 2008, and its purpose is to create an extra level of security for the valuable genetic diversity found in the gene banks. There are more than one million seed samples collected inside the vault, from all corners of the world, and preserved at -18 ° C.

The seed vault is not open for visits, but its characteristic entrance is hard to miss. If you are one of those who already have visited Svalbard, you most likely have passed the building on your way to and from the airport. At the foot of the mountain, a futuristic concrete corridor rises alone from an otherwise deserted and barren landscape, and an artwork that reflects the rays of the midnight sun in the summertime, and in the winter illuminates the polar night's severe darkness with a light reminiscent of the blue-green shimmer of the Northern Lights, decorates the entrance. For many, it is a unique view, and perhaps it also raises thoughts about our existence. The artwork is called Perpetual Repercussion, award-winning, and has been developed by the artist Dyveke Sanne.

Svalbard is geographically very protected from the unrest and conflicts that are going on in other parts of the world. It is an inaccessible place, and in an interview, seed vault coordinator Åsmund Asdal says that countries that otherwise are in conflict with each other can have their seeds side by side inside the vault. But even if the gene bank at the best never needs to be used, one withdrawn has been done. In 2015, seeds lost in the civil war in Syria, when the gene bank in Aleppo became inaccessible, could be replaced ast he gene bank had sent backup copies of its seeds to Svalbard's Global Seed Vault.

The vault is built to resist almost any damage, even nuclear bombs. The cold climate also means that there is permafrost in Svalbard - something that is grateful to lean on, for example, if a longer power failure that would knock out the vault's cooling system should occur. At -18 ° C, the seeds are safely stored and ready if they ever are needed.

I went up a while before breakfast to enjoy the morning and an amazingly beautiful sunrise with a sky that burst into various shades of pink. The view and the fresh air on the deck made me wake up properly. Soon our expedition leader Elke's sweet voice sounded out of the ship's speaker system - breakfast was served!

A couple of cups of coffee later, it was time to get ready for a Zodiac cruise in the fjords. Once out on water we were met by completely magical surroundings, and it was difficult to tear my gaze from the white capped mountains.

We started today's adventure with a landing at Jaegervatnet, and a hike with snowshoes in a calm and quiet pace. The sun shone over the landscape and the snow absorbed all the sounds - all the stress from back home was now gone! Satisfied with our walk, we jumped into the Zodiacs and made our way back to the ship. Just as we had coffee in the lounge, our first wild friends showed up to join us. It was about fifty porpoises! They went around the ship and followed us for a good while before the water got calm again. At least for a little while ... After the show they gave, one of our guides, Magnus, had a talk about just porpoises. However, he could not finish, because soon there was movement both on the ship and in the water as a humpback whale was sighted from the bridge! From deck we could see how three humpback whales blew water and showed us their white tail fins for us. What a fantastic afternoon!

Our adventure started in the city of Ushuaia, located at the southern tip of Argentina. We boarded the ship Ocean Nova and set course towards the Falkland Islands while seabirds such as petrels and albatrosses swept elegantly at our ship's side.

For many, the Falkland Islands are probably most known for the war between Argentina and the United Kingdom, but when you are a nature lover like me, penguins, albatrosses and endemic bird species are way better symbols for this remote archipelago.

At the ascent sites, we were welcomed by a penguin committee - Magellan penguins nestled in caves like rabbits, gentoo penguins were strolling on the beaches and rockhopper penguins jumped in front of one's legs as we walked among the meter-high tussock grass.

After a short hike we arrived at a black-browed albatross colony. We sat down next to the large and impressive birds and observed the couple’s gentle trimming and patting. They live in lifelong relationships and always make sure to be affectionate when they see each other. I wanted to take amazing photos, but at the same time be completely present. It felt important to put away the camera and fully experience the beautiful scenery. After two full days, we made a final stop at Stanley, the Falkland Island’s only town. Despite the long distance to Britain geographically, it was very much like visiting a small British town.

Now the sight was set on South Georgia and my heart was beating a little bit faster thinking about David Attenborough's nature films. I must say that my expectations were sky high. When we finally got there and stepped ashore, we were greeted by the sound of thousands of king penguins trumpeting and whistling and from the harem fighting giant elephant seals. I had to pinch myself in the arm.

The view can hardly be described with words. I felt so small in the huge sea of ​​penguins and seals. Just like Sir Attenborough, we basically had to step over wildlife which barely noticed our presence.

During our days in this wildlife mecca we got to visit several different penguin colonies, meet new albatrosses such as the graceful wandering albatross with over 3.5 meters in wingspan. The program also offered hiking and interesting history focusing on the polar explorer Shackleton.

Our South Georgia experiences ended with a boat cruise on the Drygalskifjord with its powerful rock formations, huge glaciers and large icebergs. New adventures on the seventh continent awaited!

After two days at sea, we arrived at the Antarctic peninsula, where gigantic icebergs and beautiful snow-covered landscapes welcomed us. During our first ascent we also got to see our seventh penguin species, the Adelié penguin. This penguin is one of the two penguins that only nest on Antarctica.

In addition to landings, we also spent a lot of time in the Zodiacs looking at the fantastic icebergs formations and saw different seals, including the leopard seal – a top editor specialised in hunting penguins.

I treasure my memories from this cold, windy and magnificent continent. There were so many unforgettable moments and although my expectations prior to this trip was roof top high, I was pleasantly surprised.   

More than a decade later, when I’m working at PolarQuest office planning and selling trips to new travellers, I look back at these moments almost daily and happily talk to travellers who want to make their first trip to Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands.

 

Could you please let us know your background and explain in short what your research is about?

– I am a meteorologist by training and am mostly interested in clouds and tiny particles (so-called aerosols) in the air. In my PhD research I am looking specifically into Black Carbon aerosol and how it impacts the Arctic environment. Black Carbon is an aerosol particle that is produced when something gets burnt: that can be everything from a candle, the firewood for the sauna, the car or on a bigger scale industry and natural sources such as forest fires. The particles are mainly produced outside of the Arctic circle but transported there and interact during the travel with other particles and clouds. The global impact is still an open question. We know Black Carbon is warming the atmosphere, but we do not know to which extent. To bring a little bit of light to the role it plays in the Earth system and climate change, I am looking on ten years of Arctic Black Carbon data.

Did a trip to Svalbard inspire you in your work and how?

– I more than ever want to preserve this environment and teach people about this amazing piece of the Earth, which we are currently destroying. My experiences and photos from this summer I shared with my colleagues, who are normally on Svalbard for work and do not have the time to go out for adventures such as mine. I designed a calendar for next year and show my photos in an evening gathering and I want to continue that on a bigger scale. A more direct impact is, for sure, that I look daily at my photos and dream a little bit back on my vacation whenever I am stressed at work or missing a little bit of motivation.

I already started a blog with a fellow PhD and friend in Leipzig to communicate science and our love for it. I want to, and I will, write about my experiences in Svalbard more but it is a hard job to combine it with my daily PhD routine. As most scientist I am very passionate about my research and very driven to produce impactful results in the since world, but sometimes we forget the outside of our bubble over that. Meeting all the people on the M/S Quest and hearing about their dream to go to the Arctic, their motivation made me realise again how important it is to share my science world with more, because everybody was so keen to learn.

What was your favourite experience or encounter on the trip?

– Our arrival at Ny-Ålesund really excited me: A town dedicated to research, nearly just scientist around, that was really a highlight. I would really like to go back there for working and experience the atmosphere since it is a very unique setting.

Favourite encounter is a really difficult question! I loved the fox encounters. Two baby foxes playing with each other was a once in my lifetime experience and the whales, my absolute favourite animal, we saw more than I expected (I expected zero!). Seeing a blue whale was just amazing, these huge majestic animals which for me just symbolise kindness.