It can only be reached by boat, and there is hardly any light except the never-ending cycle of light from the lighthouse. Even if the locals want to survive, it is almost impossible. But for our protagonist B, she doesn't feel lonely, and she's glad she's finally able to do what she wants without having to rely on other people's opinions, and there's no place where she feels free and independent.
It is the most remote weather station in Iceland.
It all started with a quote from a blog post about Iceland: "A farmer is looking for support at a weather station and sheep farm." "It was 2012, and after studying photography in Dortmund, Germany, I was ready to make some changes. I had planned to go to Iceland early on, and when I read about this secluded farm for help, everything was like a secret arrangement. I replied to the post, got a job, sold most of my stuff and booked a flight.
B, a farmer and weather station attendant, picked me up at the airport near the easternmost part of Iceland. It took almost 2 hours to drive from the airport to the weather station, all the way through snow-covered mountain passes, along waterfalls, past reindeer herds and empty summer houses, and as you approached your destination, the road became narrow and rugged. Finally, we reached the end of an isolated fjord, and a small yellow lighthouse appeared in the distance.
The Icelandic Meteorological Service has 71 manned weather stations throughout the country, 57 of which are required to report on precipitation, snow depth and ground cover once a day. B oversees one of the sites and also reports on cloud cover, weather conditions, and other meteorological phenomena. Regardless of day or night, the weather is what the weather is, every 3 hours to check the readings of the meteorological instruments at her station and transmit their temperature, air pressure, wind conditions, etc. to the office in Reykjavik. Her report is also published online and broadcast over the radio alongside reports from other regions, and for farmers who rely on forecasts, the information B provides can help their daily lives, and for fishermen on the high seas, this information can mean life and death.
There have been weather stations here since 1938, and because of the harsh climatic conditions, the data observation of the weather stations has been left to people to operate. During the coldest months of the year, it can only be reached by boat, and when a storm strikes, it will be isolated from the outside world for several consecutive days. "It's never boring here." B said. She didn't like the spotlight and it took me more than a year to comfortably photograph her portrait. At the same time, at her pace, I also began to record her life and work. There are no entertainment facilities here, and the only tool that can convey information to the outside world is the radio.
In the morning, B would go to send weather information, after which we would quickly finish breakfast and then go feed the animals and clean the barn. Lunch is usually simple, and at 3 p.m. B will record the weather again, then walk or train her dog. Sometimes, we'll eat some cake in the afternoon and continue working on the farm until 6 p.m. Every season, B has a long list of jobs. In the spring, sheep facing childbirth need to be monitored 24 hours a day; in the summer, hay is collected for winter... In winter, the waves become more and more elusive, the wild winds get stronger, and the weather conditions become more and more unpredictable. The nearest supermarket is 80 kilometres away and B's storage cabinets must be well stocked all year round.
Global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions is more intense in the polar regions than anywhere else, with parts of the Arctic and Antarctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, leading to melting glaciers and the receding of sea ice and snow cover. When the weather becomes extreme again and the wind is strong, the waves show all their strength. Remember the farewell ceremony in Iceland in August 2019 for okjökull, the first glacier that disappeared? It was the first glacier to disappear due to anthropogenic climate change. The melting of glaciers, the phenomenon that leads to the sharp activation of volcanic activity seems to be becoming more and more obvious, and the impact on fisheries is increasing day by day... And B is like a pebble in the midst of extreme desolation, fighting alone, more than ten years as a day, maybe she has long been integrated into this land.
Editor | the elder
Text & Figure | Marzena Skubatz
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