The laboratory is not the kind of place where you can just drop in. Normal access is by boat and then by foot to the tunnel entrance some 500 metres above sea level or by helicopter.
The opening to the ice itself is usually closed with steel beams that are removed when researchers need access.
Research activity takes place mainly in the winter when there is little water under the (Norwegian Svartisen) glacier.
To access the base of the glacier, researchers must use fire hoses with hot water to melt an opening in the ice. Scientists then have a tunnel that is about 2 m high in which to work. However, after the tunnel has been melted out researchers must act quickly because it shrinks to half its size each day.