Temperature: -0.1 degrees Celsius
Barometer: 802.2 hPa
Humidity: 80 %

Today was a warm day, but it's been raining since this morning. Before the departure the sun briefly showed its face, then immediately hid itself behind the clouds. Visibility was better than yesterday and occasionally I could see the horizon. With no wind we had to walk again, although it was better than yesterday as the snow was harder and easier to walk on. However, today I have a touch of the cold. It seems I got it from Ohba-san yesterday.

We have made a steady move since 9:00 a.m. and traveled 4.6 kilometers in the morning. Today we faced a series of upward slopes. From time to time the sun peeked out between the clouds and shined on the horizon, which put me in a relaxed mood. We decided not to push ourselves too much and stopped at 4:30 p.m. walking 8.4 kilometers today. The distance we traveled so far is 14 kilometers. I felt relieved to be able to cover quite a distance considering the continuous upward slope.

Mr. Ohba dragging the sled and pushing forward.

For this expedition, I am conducting the snow sampling under the guidance of Prof. Fujii of Arctic Environment Research Center. This sampling can be done quite easily just by stuffing snow into plastic bottles of 100 cubic centimeters, which will be brought back to a research laboratory in Japan. The analysis will reveal various climate conditions at that time of the sampling, for instance the acidity in the snow and particle distribution in the atmosphere.

More details will be provided soon.