© Kristinn Ingvarsson
Gabrielle’s full name is Gabrielle Jarvik Stockmann (born Heldrup), and she was born the 31st of May, 1969 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She grew up in Denmark and Greenland, but spent a lot of time in Sweden and the Netherlands as well due to family living there. Gabrielle’s family has always been very international and lived in many parts of the world. Gabrielle has been living in six different countries so far; Denmark, Greenland, Sweden, Iceland, France and the US. As you might notice, there is a preference for the cold regions and mountainous areas!
Gabrielle has a BSc degree in Chemistry and a MSc degree in Geology from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and a joint PhD degree in Geochemistry from University of Iceland and Université Paul Sabatier in France. She worked four years as a post doc and researcher at Stockholm University in Sweden on projects related to water geochemistry monitoring in connection with earthquakes in Iceland, and on natural CO2 sequestration by basaltic rocks in Iceland and on submarine ikaite columns in Greenland. From January 2018 to April 2021, she held a position as Assistant Professor in Geochemistry at the University of Iceland that involved a huge amount of teaching. Due to severe burnout in 2020, Iceland was swapped with Sweden and the company Jarvik GeoConsulting AB established in Gothenburg with Gabrielle as CEO. Prior to her PhD career in Iceland, Gabrielle worked eight years on public science information and administration at different higher education institutions in Denmark before returning to research. A lot of people associate her with Siberian Husky sled dogs as she owned a Siberian Husky kennel for 22 years and did a lot of sled dog competitions. The kennel name was Kennel Jarvik and was closed in 2005.
Gabrielle with her 10-dog team in Jämtland, 2001 (photo taken by Lars Teken Christensen), with Karen and Nina from Camp Dannevall, 2018 and onboard Danish Navy vessel F359 VÆDDEREN, in Reykjavík 2018 (photo: JACO).
Erik Sturkell
Erik, who’s full name is Carl Erik Olof Sturkell, was born the 22th of June, 1962 in Danderyd, Sweden. He completed his Master’s and Doctoral degree in Geology from Stockholm University. In 2007 he furthermore became a Docent in Geology from Stockholm University. Over the years, he has moved from geology to geophysics and now holds a position as Professor in Applied Geophysics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Erik lived and worked for more than ten years in Iceland. His employments include the Nordic Volcanological Center (NordVulk) and the Meteorological Institute (Veðurstofa Íslands). Erik’s main research areas are crustal deformation processes around the Icelandic volcanoes, Hekla, Askja, Krafla, among others, and investigation of the meteorite crater, Lockne in Mid Sweden
Photos: Finnur Pálsson
Our Dogs
Our household include dogs of the breed Smooth Collie (“short-haired Lassie”):
Yuki, our first Smooth Collie, sadly passed away in March 2013 due to liver cancer. Her full name was Kangasvuokon Shimmer of Spring. Yuki was born 9th of March, 2004 in Finland. She came from sled dog friends, Charlotte and Kjeld Baagø to Gabrielle in 2006, and moved with Gabrielle to Iceland in 2007. Yuki was trained in obedience and did really well! She was furthermore really beautiful and became Denmark’s Smooth Collie of the year in 2005. A truly unique dog with a lot of personality! Yuki was a ‘Nordic citizen’ who managed to visit all five Nordic countries, born in Finland, flew to Denmark with a stopover in Norway, then moved to Iceland and finally lived the remaining part of her life in Sweden.
Photo: Erik Sturkell. Yuki in Iceland on a trip to the mountain Keilir, 2008.
Glitnir, our second Smooth Collie, was the daughter of Yuki and born 11th of March, 2009. She was bred by Sinna Kornum in Denmark, Kennel Collected Memories and her registered name was Aimé. Glitnir was a very special dog although quite reserved to strangers, but she loved us and was an effective guarding dog. Her ears were wrong (standing up straight) but that didn’t matter to us. She looked like an Ethiopian Wolf. Glitnir sadly had to be put to sleep in March 2022 due to a ligament damage to her front leg, which made her unable to walk. This dog has definitely walked many km in her life and been on long walks in Denmark, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Iceland, and Pennsylvania (US). She reached the admirable age of 13 years, which makes her my oldest dog so far.
Photo: Erik Sturkell. Glitnir in Jämtland, July 2014.
Deli, our cute and energetic youngster, came to us in May 2013. She is from kennel Honey Melon in Finland, where Yuki’s father also came from. Deli’s official name is Honey Melon Fay Fidelia, and she is born January 19, 2013. We truly wondered how tall Deli was going to be. She was by age 2 much taller than Glitnir (probably due to American blood lines), but otherwise in all ways a really beautiful dog with a super temperament.
Photo: Erik Sturkell. Deli in Jämtland, July 2014.
Jörfi is a tricolour female who moved to our household in July 2022. She is born on 3 April 2022 and bred by Kennel Mabinogion in the Netherlands. Her registered name is Mabinogion Eadith but Erik decided on the Icelandic name Jörfi for her. This stands for Jöklarannsóknafélag Íslands (JÖRFÍ), the Glaciological.Society of Iceland. She seems to be a very social and tough little lady. We are curious to see what the future brings for her and us.
Photo: Jolanda Berkelmans. Jörfi age 15 weeks