A Day of Firsts

Today was a big day; not so much for science but definitely for me. I took my first shower, did my first round of laundry (both of which were very much needed and felt amazing), and tried something new; for the first time in my life, I cross-country skied. Being a newbie at it and all, I don't have my own pair of skis but I decided to borrow some from a friend in my research group to bring up here. Turns out it was a good move.

When it comes to skis, I'm used to having both my feet firmly locked to the two boards, so, as you can probably imagine, the whole loose-heel design of the cross-country skis was a bit awkward for me. Zoe, who was on the University of Denver's ski team and who coaches kids in NH how to cross-country ski, watched me as I made my first steps (glides?) on the skis. She said I was a natural, though I think she was just being nice; I'm pretty sure those who regularly hit the XC skis don't wobble as much as I did. The wobbles definitely resulted in a handful of solid falls which was frustrating and usually fairly painful. But I did not give up! I was determined to both get some exercise today and to really give a solid try to cross-country skiing so I kept on. Fortunately, after a bit, the falls became less and less frequent and were thus separated by longer periods of actual skiing. I really enjoy that part, the actual skiing. I didn't find it all that hard which was encouraging though my arms were sore. I find this odd; I would expect such an activity would work the lower limbs more rather than the upper but I was mistaken. Taking off the skis revealed some sore quads but nothing outrageous. It's very possible I'm not skiing correctly and am using the poles a bit too vigorously too much but I was definitely surprised to be held back by sore biceps; several stops were made, not to rest my legs or lungs, but to rest my arms. I was also a bit surprised I wasn't having more difficulty breathing. Being moderately out of shape and at 11000ft, I was definitely prepared to be sucking wind. But no. Not that I'm disappointed, but I am surprised. This ease of breathing may have been because I wasn't going so fast or maybe it's that I'm actually wicked good shape. I'm going with the latter.

I skied out on the skiway, where the C-130 lands, while Zach (fellow SAT camper) ran. The skiway's the prime location for these types of activities as its a 3-mile strip of groomed snow. I forgot my watch so I didn't have a real feel for how long we were out there. Turns out it was a lot longer than I thought; Zach had just over 45 minutes on his watch! He did take off about 5 minutes before I got moving but still, that means that I was skiing for ~40 minutes. Not too bad for my first day back to exercise in a week and a half. Sunday I may try running but watching Zach, who's run a marathon and is training for an Ironman at the end of August, struggle with both breathing and the occasional deep drift, I'm thinking it may not be as "effortless" as skiing.

Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pictures of me on the skis, which I feel badly about; what a post without a visual?! To compensate for the lack of action shots, I'll leave you all with some scenic ones:

Pretty clouds. Looking Southwest.

A fog bow. Its similar in principle to a rainbow (light striking water droplets in the the atmosphere and getting refracted) except without the color. I'm not 100% sure why this bow is colorless, though I'm guessing it has to do with the angle of the sun not being ideal.

Foggy night. I took this a little after 3AM when I was on my way back from the 3AM sample last week. This is close to the lowest the sun gets up here.

While today was a big day for me, tomorrow's a HUGE day for science; we're starting another 48-hr surface snow sample, have to recalibration the mist chamber (~4 hours), and are running tests for leaks on the mist chamber (~2 hours). Definitely a busy busy busy Saturday. Hopefully I'll have a moment to talk about it!

A Shoutout From A Tired Mouse

I just wanted to give a quick shoutout to Ms. Gioia's 6th grade scientists. I've love reading your comments! Today I wore my EMS tshirt and was thinking of all of you. Here's a pic.


The tshirt was essential today as I was assigned "house mouse" duties for the big house, the building shown below.


The big house is where the action is. It houses the kitchen, shower (which I still have yet to use... one week since my last shower tomorrow!), laundry, and things for entertainment such as movies and boardgames. As the hot spot where the 23 current camp residents (we had a mass exodus the past couple of days, 20 people left incuding my advisor) gather multiple times a day, you can imagine the big house gets pretty messy. This is where the mouse comes in. Each day, the mouse is responsible for the upkeep of the big house including doing all the dishes for the three meals, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom and shower, wiping down the tables, and restocking items such as bagels and cereal. Fortunately, house mouse assignments are rotated among camp members so personal mouse duties are limited to one day every 3ish week. My one (and only!) day was today. It was a non-stop! Every time I'd finish the dishes, Rosemary (the mighty good cook) would bring out the dishes she was using to prep the next meal. In between dishes, I was bustlin' to do all the other tasks as well as the special task assigned to the Wednesday mouse, wash out the refridgerator. Needless to say, I am one tired girl. Fortunately, it's back to science tomorrow, starting with a 7am surface snow sample. I better get some rest!

Snow Pits and Snow Angels

The project I, along with my advisor Jack and a crew from Brown U. (represented by a graduate student named Dorothy), are working on calls for snow samples to be taken on all sorts of time resolutions. Most days, we take surface snow samples every twelve hours. This gets bumped up to every four hours for a 48-hour period once a week which is less than awesome as it means someone has to grab a sample at 3am. We're actually in the middle of one of these 48-hr samples right now and I have the lovely task of grabbing that 3am sample. This post is the only thing keeping me awake for it!

Sampling from shallow snow-pits is also slatted for the project though much less frequently than the surface samples; only two pits will be dug this campaign, one in the middle and one at the end. We take snow samples every 3cm down until the pit depth (21cm). These samples will give us an idea of how nitrate, our pollutant of interest, changes with depth. The idea that as you get further down, you get further from light and thus the nitrate is less likely to participate in the sunlight-driven cycling mechanisms we observe near the surface.

Last Friday, less than 48 hours after my arrival to the camp, was the chosen day for the first of the two snow pits. While I wasn't feeling particularly stellar (the altitude was still getting to me), it was a good day to get to work on the pit as the weather was nice and Jack was still in town (he leaves us this Tuesday) to show Dorothy and I the ropes of pit digging. It's pretty simple; dig a hole a bit over 21 cm deep, flatten the sampling wall (which lies upwind of you so as to avoid contamination), and get to work. Since we're dealing with very sensitive chemistry, extra caution must be taken to avoid contamination. The solution? Plastic gloves and a plastic full body suit. Baby blue and cut from a shiny nylon material, these onesies are pretty stylish. I was so psyched about them, I asked Jack to pose in them for a picture with me.


Clearly we're both thrilled about the suits. I mean, how can you not smile if you look like a telly tubby?

Jack, Dorothy, and I each took a stab at sampling from the pit. The whole process didn't take very long (definitely under an hour) but was long enough to make some cold fingers, toes, and rears. Yes. Rears. To sample, we were seated on a ledge opposite the sampling wall as seen in this action shot of me.


Unfortunately, I didn't wear my snowpants to do this so all that separated my behind from the snow was the thin clean suit, a pair of Carharts, and a pair of long underwear. I will certainly not make that mistake next time!

While I was literally freezing my bum off, Jack was playing in the snow. Here's a picture of him trying to make Summit's first snow angel.


Unfortunately, he planted himself in a hard, packed patch of snow so the final imprint wasn't all that impressive.


In the world of snow pits, ours is definitely lame. Typically, pits are on the order of meters deep as they are most often used to look changes in snow chemistry and/or structure over longer periods of time. To quote Zoe, a researcher here drilling a 100m ice core, our snow pit is anything but a pit; rather it is more of a snow "pothole".

Jack showed us a real snow pit after we finished up work on our pothole. This hole was mostly dug for a display for the Ambassador but, true to her scientist self, the digger, Zoe, took some samples out of curiosity. This pit definitely put ours to shame. Both Dorothy and I could fit in the hole (albeit not comfortably) and when standing in it, the surface was at my chest. One of the main reasons we hopped in the pit was to get a good peek at the layers in the snow. The best way to see the layer is set up a situation in which the sun back lights one of the pit walls. To do this, Dorothy and I had to duck into the pit as Jack covered us with a piece of plywood. Once covered we were facing this gorgeous wall of blue stripes.


The picture above is of a corner in the pit. As you might suspect, the different shades of blue represent different layers of snow, but did you know that they also represent the different seasons at Summit? During the Winter months when the winds are raging, more dust is transported to Summit and is deposited in the snow giving winter layers a darker color than summer. This pattern persists all the way until snow becomes glacial ice. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, these seasonal layers, along with snow deposition rates, are how scientists determine the age of ice cores, such as those used to examine the climate over hundreds of thousands of years.

Perhaps it was the "heavenly" scene the back lit snow pit provided but after crawling out of the pit, I decided to make a snow angel myself. Learning from Jack's mistakes, I searched for a softer spot to flail around on. Here was the final product.
Ok so it's not that impressive either. It was still fun to make though and fortunately, there's plenty of snow around to try again.

Walkin' On The Moon

The flight (my second on the C-130) to Summit yesterday went off without a hitch. This ride there were fewer scientists (only 13) which in theory should've made for a more comfortable ride with respect to leg room. However, to our surprise, many of the spare seats turned out to be occupied; joining us on the journey to ice sheet were some non-science distinguished guests. Just who, you ask? Oh just the U.S. Ambassador to Denmark. No big deal. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to shake her hand. She got a special seat up by the cockpit, was wisked away for a camp tour upon our arrival, and was gone within an hour and a half. Still, pretty rad; I felt peaceful just being in her diplomatic presence.

A two-hour flight brought us from the damp, cool coast, to the dry, cold Arctic. Words cannot even begin to describe what I felt stepping off the plane and feel every time I step outside up here. Sure, I've seen pictures of the Arctic and know a bit about it's characteristics, but experiencing it is a whole different story. It's more beautiful than I could ever imagine. It's sparkles with a cleanliness that can only be found in a place that has been virtually unaffected (directly) by humans. I imagine this is what those who've had the luxury to visit the moon felt when they stepped off the shuttle for the first time; to find places so unadulterated and undeveloped by humankind is truly special these days. The only difference between me and the astronauts is that instead of black space and grey moon-rock, I see blue sky and brilliant white snow spanning into forever.


The one problem I do have with Summit is the altitude. Yesterday I was a hurtin' unit, suffering from some mild altitude sickness. It's gotten better today but I'm still battling some lethargy and a small headache. Three cheers for ibuprofen! Because the sudden jump up in altitude can be hard on the body, the new arrivals were allowed, and even strongly encouraged, to take it easy yesterday and to not jump right into work. Instead, us Summit newbies munched on warm, fresh-baked cinnamon raisin cookies and slugged down water. These cookies were unbelievable! I had been told the legend of the Summit food but never could I have imagined such delicious eats were possible in the middle of nowhere. Amazing cookies were followed by amazing dinner (pesto pasta with fresh mozzarella and tomato, spicy italian sausage, green beans, salad, and fresh bread) and subsequent meals have been equally impressive. What's even more awesome is that binging is encouraged up here; the altitude plus the temperature increases your daily required calorie intake which means eating a ton is essential. My kind of place!

Dinner was followed by a brief meeting and some internet-ing/skyping. I sauntered out to my tent around 11:00pm absolutely exhausted but prepared not to sleep much partially because of the cold but mostly because of the altitude. I had already set up my Arctic oven, which was impressively warm earlier in the day, so all I had to do was crawl into bed. I slept like a baby. Ok, so not really, but definitely MUCH better than I anticipated. I was nice n' toasty the whole night. I know right?! I didn't think this was possible in a tent in the Arctic but it was and much better than the humid, hot nights I left behind a couple weeks ago. Here's a picture of my humble abode for the next few weeks.


Perhaps I will name it or decorate it, ya know, to make it feel more like home.

I woke up this morning just before 8:30am and, after breakfast, went to right work. It was a busy day. First up was a walk out to Sat Camp, where we're (me and my advisor, Jack along with a few good folks from Georgia Tech-Zach and Dave-and a woman from Brown who we're collaborating with, Dorothy) are located. It's a touch over a half mile one-way out there so I'm sure to get some good exercise while up here. Our instrument is housed in the Balle building which is essentially a freezer, but instead of freezing items we take advantage of it's insulating powers and heat it up. The MC-IC is sampling soluble gases in the atmosphere. Since the MC-IC is automated and can run by itself, we spend much of our time doing work in an adjacent, and roomier, building we have affectionately named the tomato, an appropriate name if you consider the picture below.

While there was no Summit science planned for the morning, I had set out to get some work on another project I've been chipping away at for a while. These productive plans were quickly sidelined when Zach informed me of snowmobile training back at main camp. I had never ridden on let alone driven a snowmobile and thought that, since they represent the main way equipment is moved around the camp, it'd probably be a good idea that I learn how to. After a 15-minute run through on their operation, I hopped on one of the Ski-Doos for a quick test run. It was fun! I would consider purchasing one if they weren't a lot of money and an unnecessary source of pollution. The later may be remedied soon though; a recent graduate from Clarkson who is up here was part of a team of students that designed an electric snowmobile. The ride is up here with him and, though it has yet to make an appearance, I'm hoping to hop on at some point.

Snowmobiling was followed lunch then by a tour of the camp led by Jack. I learned a bit about the other science happening here at Summit. One group is looking at snow grain size and shape and how the affects how reflective the snow is, that is, how those properties of snow affect it's albedo. Another group is interested in the clouds up here in the Arctic and is using radar as well as a few other instruments to learn about the droplets of clouds and their phases (ice versus water). A third group I met with today is measuring various CFC's in the atmosphere. They've actually been monitoring this ozone-destroying species (think ozone hole) since the 1970's. Very cool and very important work and a very unique place to do it!

We did some cool work ourselves later this afternoon but unfortunately a post on it must wait; it's 11:30pm and thus bed time. Normally this wouldn't be a huge deal but tomorrow I'm slated to do a 7am sample. Hopefully this night's rest will be as good as last since it won't be very long!

Chillin' On the Coast

And so my Greenland adventure begins, though it almost was delayed a day. My parents dropped me off at the Stratton Air Force Base at the unsightly hour of 5:15 yesterday. We weren't scheduled to fly out until 8:00 so that early of a "check-in" time seemed a bit unnecessary but that's the military; they operate on a much earlier schedule than I :). Things seemed to be going smoothly when one of the commanders came in and told us to be ready to board the shuttle for plane in 5-10 minutes at about 8:10. But five to ten minutes came and went and not another word. Minutes turned to hours without a word and it quickly became evident that something was wrong. We speculated mechanical problems and turned out to be right. Finally, around 11:00, we were allowed to board.

Our chariot for the day was a massive C-130.



I was forewarned that the plane is incredibly noisy so I invested in a pair of those shooting range earmuffs. I felt a bit ridiculous making the purchase at the time but was very grateful for them once on the plane. Seating was tight (as you can see below) but surprisingly fairly comfortable. Who knew mesh backing could be cozy?


We were all settled in with our seatbelts fastened, ears plugged, and entertainment (books, cameras, laptops, etc.) out when we got the news: we had to get off the plane due to another issue. This one, we were told, would only take 5-10 minutes so we wouldn't be heading back to the base, just to the ac'ed shuttle. My new rule of thumb: when told 5-10 minutes, assume 50-100. This repair was apparently much more extensive than expected and we were held up until a bit after 1:00pm. This was a major bummer as now we wouldn't be getting to our first destination, the coastal town of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, until much later than I originally though. To satisfied hungry tummies (mine very much included, not surprisingly), we ordered some pizzas while we waited. This was one good thing about the delay; instead of chowing on my smushed pb&j on the plane, I got to munch on some delicious 'za.

We finally took off just after 1:00pm. With everyone plugged up, people kept to themselves, quietly reading or sleeping. Myself, I started book 1 of the Twlight series. I've been curious about the hype surrounding the books so I figured why not read them at Summit? Thus far, I'm not quiet sure what makes everyone so crazy about Bella and Edward but I'm willing to keep pressing forward. At the very least, they're a cute and easy read and definitely help pass the time.

We stopped briefly in Goose Bay, Canada (about halfway to Kangerlussuaq) for fuel, free (!) ice cream, hot cocoa, and what would be my last time on North American soil until the end of June. Within thirty minutes we were back in the air and Greenland bound. This second part of the flight went by much slower than the first, probably because I was so excited to get to Greenland. The last 45 minutes of the flight offered impressive views of the Greenlandic landscape from aloft, including its gorgeous glaciers (which unfortunately is shaded by the mountains in the picture below) and mountains.


I finally arrived in the coastal town of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland along with the ~20 other scientists and a handful of military personnel I'd been with for the past 14 hours around 11pm local time to a still very bright landscape. The sun, as expected, had not even come close to setting yet, which, even though I knew this would happen, was still weird. Kangerlussuag (or, colloquially, "Kanger"), which roughly translates to "big fjord", is essentially a hub for scientists doing research in Greenland. From here, only a few of us headed up to Summit (~8), but all of us are doing awesome work. There are a couple groups headed south, one which is looking to examine the hydrology of the glacial rivers to relate sediment in the waters to ice sheet melt/retreat. The other southbound crew, of which my roommate here at the science facility in Kanger is taken a bit of a different scientific route but equally as cool; they will be spending three months doing archeological work investigating the appearance and disappearance of Norse Greenland. So. Awesome! If I wasn't doing Earth Science, I'm pretty sure I'd go into archeology/anthropology.

Kanger is a bit desolate, but absolutely gorgeous.


I wish we had a bit more time to explore the surroundings but alas, we are on to Summit this afternoon. I'm very excited to see Summit and to really truly experience the Arctic. The cold makes me nervous though; here on the coast today it's probably in 40s (tropical compared to Summit) and I'm definitely chilly. I'm hoping it's just the dampness that comes with being close to the coast and that the dry cold that Summit offers won't be so bad. Either way, the long underwear is definitely going on before we depart!

That's all for now. I'm going to try to catch some shut eye before we are northbound. Between the early rise yesterday and the constant sunlight last night, I'm hurtin' for some sleep. Its a bit crazy to think the next time I write will be from the middle of an ice sheet. I hope you're as excited as I am!