Yet another beautiful autumn day by the Ofoten Fjord
Yet another beautiful autumn day by the Ofoten Fjord
Mt. Tøttatoppen 1,249 meters towering above the Rombak Fjord
Mt. Tøttatoppen 1,249 meters - below and a bit to the left - the Polytechnical College in Narvik and to the left the new Rica Hotel being built. In the foreground the red train garrages and workshops.
Moon is rising – Sun is setting on Narvik
Moon is rising – Sun is setting on Narvik. Our beloved airport Narvik Airport (NVK) is lit in the dusk. In the Foreground you can see the 180,002 ton bulk carrier “Navios Happiness” of Malta being loaded with iron ore by pier 5 – destined for El Dikheila.
Moon is rising - Sun is setting on Narvik
Treebeard
The black “beard” you see hanging from the branches of this birch has got really nothing to do with Treebeard – the ent – from Tolkien’s “Lord of The Rings”. It is called “treskjegg” in Norwegian – directly translated: “Treebeard”. It is actually one of extremely many species of Lichen (pronounced “lai-kenn”. Lichens are actually a symbiotic organism that consists of fungi and algae. The fungi provides proteines, salts and shelter. The sheltering structures contains, in addition to the fungus cells, algae-cells. The algae has chlorophyll and thus it produces sugar which it feeds to the fungus. A tiny ecological system in it self.
My friend Gunnar has studied lichens for a long time for The University of Tromsoe. Lichens are very sensitive to the environment and mapping lichens in a specific area, species, how much there is of the various species etc., is a very precise indicator of environmental changes; climate, acidity and pollutants. Any change in these paramaeteres can quite quickly be registered in the compositions of lichens, and thus has become a very interesting field in Biology and Ecology.
Treskjegg - "treebeard" - hanging from a birch. This is actually a lichen - a symbiosis between a mycobiont and a photobiont. In the background The Fagernes Mountain bath in sunlight from the setting sun.
Sunset on the village Haakvik (Håkvik)
Sunset on the village Haakvik down to the left
She’s simply beautiful
The Sleeping Queen from a different angle. The glaciers shown prominently as blueish white fields. As she towers 1,576 meters over the fjords, she is lightly powdered with freshly fallen snow. The winter is just a thousand meters away now.
In addition to the blueish white glaciers on The Sleeping Queen (1,576 meter) - she is now lightly powdered with freshly fallen snow.
The Ofoten Fjord this evening
Panorama of The Ofoten Fjord and in the foreground Ankenesstrand in the middle the city of Narvik and in the background Bjerkvik.
The Season of The Carotenoids
Why do the leafs on trees become yellow, orange and red in the autumn? Well, the answer is, they have these colours in the spring and summer as well. But then it is not visible because of the strong green colour reflected by chlorophyll. The colours we see are actually the colours that the tree doesn’t use in the production of sugar through photosynthesis. These colours are reflected and the light that is actually used in the photosynthesis is absorbed.
The red, orange and yellow colours we see in the leafs in the autumn is the reflection of light from carotenoids. These substances are cheap for the trees to produce, and the trees can afford to shed these. The chlorophyll on the other hand is a very precious and valuable molecule for the trees, so these are transported to the roots in the autumn leaving the carotenoids to “light up the forests in the beautiful, warm colours. Next spring the trees formes new leafs and pumps chlorophyll back into the freshly formed leafs.
Common Aspen - Populus tremula (local dialect: Osp) - has stored it's chlorophyll for the winter. This photo was shot today.
The Sleeping Queen – Den Sovende Dronning
Den Sovende Dronning (1,576 meters) – which means “The Sleeping Queen” south of Narvik as seen from Ankenesfjellet (mt.) this evening.
Den Sovende Dronning (1,576 meters) this evening.
And the sunset
This photo was taken extremely quicly on semi-automatic, but my camera works best when it is manually set. Anyhow – this is the city of Narvik just after sunset today.
Narvik tonight - Just after sunset
Beautiful Autumn Evening by The Ofoten Fjord
Beautiful Autumn Evening by The Ofoten Fjord
Oh yeah – Winter is coming!
This picture was taken today and the powderd top – Beisfjordtøtta – is only 1,448 meters above sea level.
Beisfjortøtta 1,448 meters
The Hops is overly ripe – A shame that we don’t make beer…
The hops in the garden is just for pleasing the eyes. No beer production here – otherwise maybe these delicious fruits would have been harvested already. I am quite amazed that my mother’s Humulus lupulus is blooming this far to the North. After all we’re at 68°26’21” North. In the center of Greenland at the same latitude, the ice sheet is 2,000 meters thick…
Anyway – took a few shots of the hops on a rainy afternoon. Hope you enjoy it!
Hops in Narvik on a rainy day
Hops - close up
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