Memorial Day 2010

Memorial Day 2010, it has turned out to be a wonderful day for us here at Summit. The last couple of days were overcast and windy. All of the ant tracks were blown away and the sastrugi have gone from nothing to 2 foot in height in some areas. This morning I was removing the snow from the down wind side of my tent, just to let the sun shine in.

Now for some definitions:

ANG
The Air National Guard. The 109th squadron which flies the unique LC-130s that fly into the arctic and antarctic remote stations.

Ant Tracks
The paths made by multiple people in the snow between buildings. Usually following one makes walking easier.

Bag Drag
The act of showing up at the ANG to weigh in for for a flight. All checked luggage is taken, and all PAX are weighed with carry-on bags and ECW gear. The times change with little notice, but are rarely convenient.

Beaker
A scientist.

Big House
The main building at Summit Camp. It houses the dining hall and general use toilet and shower.

Boomerang
To turn back in mid-flight, usually due to bad weather at the landing site, or mechanical problems, especially ski issues with the LC-130s.

Carp
Short for Carpenter. Also the name of the Carpenter berthing building at Summit.

DNF
Do Not Freeze, a label applied to cargo that must not be allowed to sit outside.

DV

Distinguished Visitor, a person of some prominence down for a visit. DV is used in favor of the more common VIP.

ECW

Extreme Cold Weather, the label given to our protective clothing, from parkas and bunny boots, to bear claws, balaclavas, yazoo caps, et cetera.

Freshies
Common term for fresh fruit and vegetables.

Green House
The science and full time crew berthing building at Summit.

MSF
Mobile Science Facility. This is the newest building at Summit. Put into operation summer 2010.

PAX
Passengers.

PI
Principle Investigator, head of a science project.

Sastrugi
Sharp irregular groves in the snow surface carved by the wind. They are usually parallel to the prevailing wind.

Sun Dogs
The name for the two rainbows that appear on either side of the sun, approximately 23° away, caused by the refraction of light through suspended ice crystals. Frequently seen with displays of halos and other perihelical effects. They are occasionally visible in temperate latitudes, but more common in polar regions.

Tent City
This is a group of 20 tents setup at Summit for the use of summer personnel.

Traverse
The name given to any journey across the ICE more than several miles in length.

Week What?

I have come to remember something that I had forgotten a long time ago. Namely how easy it is to lose track of time when you are at a field station. Here it is Saturday night and I just realized that I have not updated my blog for almost a full week. Days blend together and the day of the week don't mean much. Everybody works 7 days a week, the only difference is that on Sundays the cook, Rosemary, doesn't cook. Everything else is the same.

Speaking of Rosemary, holy smoke, what a cook. Rosemary is a lady who really knows her way around the kitchen. She has not only fed us, but she has put out a menu that has been incredible. My wife said it the best way possible, "You changed locations and exchanged great accommodations for great food." That is the truth. In Kellyville, we were living off of frozen pizzas and frozen meals. Here we are treated to meals that are fabulous. We have fresh veggies every meal, we have meals that cater to every ethnic group. For example, this evening we had grilled lamp chops, vegetarian stir fry, caesar salad, butter carrots, small potatoes, fresh baked rolls and lemon squares for dessert. Today's lunch was chipote black bean pumpkin soup, regular salad, green chicken enchiladas, veggie enchiladas and corn bread. Every day has been a different culture and different styles of cooking. There is truth to the saying that summit has the best food in Greenland. This is a tribute to our cook for this phase, Rosemary.

Sunday Night

Well, here we are. It's the day off for everybody, except for the Beakers. What is a Beaker? A Beaker is somebody who shows up on station to do science. This reference comes from the muppets most lovable character Beaker. I have included a picture of what most of the beakers around here look like.

Like I said earlier, it is the day off for most of the staff. Beakers continue to work, why? Because that is all they know to do. For example, today we finished cleaning the MSF (Mobile Science Facility) and started putting in instruments. I spent some of the day under a large radar dish, which is being installed on the roof of MSF, helping put on a weather proof collar. I was laying on my stomach, while working underneath the dish. A little later in the day I was vacuuming the inside of the MSF in preparation for the instruments to start being assembled. Later in the afternoon I was unpacking some of my equipment and starting to put CAPABL together. It is never dull around here.

We are definitely starting the period when nobody is going to be sleeping much. We have a lot of work to do before we leave. Some added pressure comes from news that we are having a DV (Distinguished Visitor) showing up on the 3rd. We are pushing to have all of the equipment possible online and taking data before they show up.

The next post will deal with Food.......

Summit - First Day

Well, here we are at Summit Camp - at the summit of the Greenland Ice Cap (see the following website for more information http://www.summitcamp.org). It is a high altitude camp, physical altitude of just over 10,500 feet. The physiological altitude bounces as high as 11,000 feet if a good strong low comes over. There is 24 hour a day sunlight now, so we won't get to see the night time sky again until we head south in June.

I will answer some of the questions I have been getting from everybody:

1) How am I doing? I am doing ok, I felt the altitude sickness headache and decrease in appetite yesterday afternoon, but after 4 bottles of water, 8 advil and a good night sleep, I feel much better today.

2) How is the tent? It is a two layer tent called an Arctic Oven. I can say that it is a good tent, it kept me 30-40 deg warmer than it was outside. That means it was above 0 F in my tent. Good for sleeping and not good for electronics or drinks. When I got up this morning my water bottle was frozen solid.

3) How is the weather? Well, when we got here it was -15 F with wind chill of -37 F. It has been up and down since then. Today is warmer with -5 F temps and 10 knot winds. We have some clouds and some weather coming towards us with colder temps and high winds. It should be fun in the near future around here.

4) How do you sleep if the sun is up all the time? First of all the tent I am sleeping in is not dark inside. So if I want to sleep, I will be putting something over my head to make it dark. As long as I have some cold air to breathe, I will be fine. I just don't want to wake up in the middle of the night and see the bright sunshine, that just makes it harder for me to get back to sleep.

We did get started on our new building today. We had the help of the station personnel in putting in the window for our laser. It was a lot of work, but it is in. We might have the building ready to occupy in the next day or so. Then the real work starts.

I'll write more later.

Cheers.

Phase 2 - Summit

Phase two has begun. I made it to Summit today. The flight left Kangerlussuaq at 8:30 AM this morning. We landed at Summit Camp around 10:30 this morning. It is an adventure being back up at 10,600 feet. The weather when we got here was pretty nice, temperature -15 F, windchill -37 F, pressure 689.2 mb. All in all a nice day. I have attached a photo of my new accommodations, a little more austere than it was in Kellyville.

This phase will last until June 7th or so. I will be keeping everybody updated on our progress up here. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see my new home away from home.

Turn Around Flight

The excitement for today was that I made a turn around flight to Summit. I flew into Summit for a grand total of 30 minutes today. I made the flight so that I could see the new building that we will be working in starting next wednesday. I learned a few things and have started the ball rolling on having one design feature in the building changed. Lots of time in the air for a short amount of time on the ground.

I have posted a couple of photos from the flight over on the Picaso site.

End of 1st phase

Everybody shout hallelujah, the end of the 1st phase of the project is here. This afternoon we delivered CAPABL to the shipping department of the ANG to be pallatized and readied for shipment to Summit. There have been problems with the flight schedule due to a plane being down with mechanical problems. Because of that the flight from three days ago still has not taken place. They boomeranged yesterday with engine problems. They are in the air right now with the possibility of boomeranging again because of crosswinds at Summit. We shall see. I am still scheduled for a turn around flight tomorrow, but that depends on if the flight makes it today. As always, all of this depends on the weather cooperating.

One last note: Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife!!!

Three Weeks In

Wow, where did the last three weeks go. Here it is May 11th and I have been gone for three weeks. To tell the truth, I have been having a hard time remembering what day of the week it is and what the date is. Today is a great example of that. Last night (or should I say early this morning) I got to bed around 2:30 AM. This is a wee bit later than I had planned on, but within reason given the work I have been doing. The only problem was that I needed to get up at 8 AM to have a quick breakfast before heading into Kangerlussuaq for a meeting with a bunch of people who arrived on yesterday's ANG flight from NY. Running on 5.5 hours of sleep is ok for Ryan, but not for me.

So much has happened today, mostly planning for the next phase of the trip. Currently the plan is this: On Thursday the 13th we will be dismantling CAPABL and packing it up for the trip up to Summit. All of the gear (approx 1.5 tons of it) needs to be at the ANG staging warehouse in Kangerlussuaq by Friday noon. On Saturday, I am scheduled to fly up to Summit for a turn around flight. What this means is that I will fly up to Summit, get off of the plane for about 30 minutes, climb back on the plane and come back to Kangerlussuaq. Mostly this is for a hands on inspection of the work that is being done to the building that CAPABL is going to be installed in. I will be taking photos and measurements and notes on everything to talk to people about on Saturday night and Sunday. Then, on Monday the 17th, we are scheduled to shift our duty station to Summit for the rest of the trip. This is two days earlier than we had originally thought, but the scheduling people want to give us two chances to get up to Summit instead of one. It seems that the flight on the 19th that we were originally supposed to take is the last flight of this current flight period and if it doesn't go, we are stuck in Kangerlussuaq for another two weeks. This is something that we really don't want.

So, for the next week or so I will be busy working and flying around Greenland. This is so much fun......

It's been a week?

This is insane, I haven't written for a whole week? What have I been doing? Life around Kellyville has been going in fast forward, days blending together. Most of the time I have been working mornings (9 am until noon) with Ryan and then he heads off to bed. My afternoons have been spent working on my normal work back in Boulder and taking some time off to go hiking. Ryan gets up again around 9 pm and we work on the lasers until midnight when I head back to my room for my evening chat with my wife and daughter. I usually try and hit the sack around 1 am or so to get ready for the next day.

Weather wise, we have had everything from snow storms to days like today where I have the window in my room open to catch a breeze. On my hike yesterday I actually took off my jacket because it was so hot. I am concerned about heading up to Summit though, the temperatures are still hanging around -30 C and have not started to warm up significantly. We are 10 days from flying up there and the temps are still on the cold side.

Hiking in the area around Kellyville is fairly easy. You have a dozen or so large hills that are accessible to you to explore. Most take about 30-45 minutes to climb and the view from the tops are spectacular. I will post some of the photos over on the Picasa site later today. I am planning on taking a 1-2 hour hike this afternoon back towards the Fjord so I can take some more photos. I think everybody will enjoy them.

Please scroll to the bottom of this page to see a new photo that I took this evening.

First Day Off

Today has been an exciting day, it was our first real day off since we got to Kangerlussuaq. Besides sleeping in (for me at least) we took a tour of the area around the Russell Glacier. The Russell Glacier is about 25 km north of town and is very impressive. It towers over the glacier till by about 50-100 feet. To get to the glacier we crammed into one of the pickup trucks owned by SRI and headed to Kanger where we picked up two other people who were in town on another project. We then headed north along a dirt road that followed the river that flows down from the melting glacier. After about 20 km we got to the end of the road that is open to the general public. To get from the road into the glacier we had to hike in several miles to the base of it where we sat, ate and listened to it's popping and cracking as it slowly moves along. We were lucky to see a sizable chunk of ice fall off of it, but it was not as spectacular as you probably have seen on TV. I have set up an account over at picasa to share some of the photos I have taken so far on this trip. All I can say is it is fascinating sitting that close to the tongue of the glacier. All told, it took us about 6 hours to do all of this today. I would say it was a great day.