Tasiilaq 2025: When katabatic winds topple a station

Our team of three flew to Tasiilaq to service the two GC-Net stations TAS_L and TAS_A. The first few days were grounded by bad weather, which gave us time to troubleshoot a new data logger intended for TAS_L that, frustratingly, remained silent during our tests. With great support from our station engineers back in Denmark, we identified a faulty connection in the data logger and managed to repair it before the first good-weather days of the trip.

Our first flight took us to TAS_L, which we found tipped over with several broken sensors. This was a reminder of the hurricane-force winds that can occur in the region during katabatic storms, when the cold air covering the ice sheet can flow unhindered down the ice sheet flank. We were able to re-establish the station and replace the broken instruments.

TAS_A was still standing, but also in poor shape, with bent legs and a missing anemometer. By the end of a long and sunny day, we had replaced the faulty instruments, ensured that the station was logging properly, and flown back to Tasiilaq.