tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44977616734898433822024-03-05T16:50:30.836-05:00ROSS IN THE POLES ... tales from the Arctic and Antarcticaross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-82968625761480215112015-04-01T10:13:00.001-04:002015-04-01T10:14:26.708-04:00The End of the ICE-MITT Tour<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty mountains (sketchy driving though)</td></tr>
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Thank you for joining me on this wild and crazy 2 month long expedition. We are back at Dartmouth after 6 weeks in Barrow, AK, and a long 2-week 4,700 mile journey across Canada and the USA. I apologize for the lack of posting during the road trip. Excuses can include 10 hours of non-stop driving, waking up early to pack all the gear, extreme exhaustion, lack of internet, etc. Or realistically, it was simply a bit of burn-out. The one thing it was not though, was a lack of beautiful scenery and exciting stories as the road trip was pretty epic. Looking back at the last two weeks, a few observations:<br />
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Starting the road trip in Fairbanks, AK went well and Fairbanks is a pretty awesome city. University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) has a small ski park complete with jumps and rails right on campus. There are awesome snowshoeing/cross-country ski trails all around campus. It was daunting jumping into the truck with 3 of us and Nukka crammed into the cab about to start 4,700 miles of driving, but also exciting at the same time. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So many great ski lines</td></tr>
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Never stay in a town called Destruction Bay. Poor choice on our part. Things were going very smoothly (wow... I still can't believe I was able to say that) right up until this evening in Yukon Territories. It was pretty warm this evening and we awoke to find out that we can't keep the generators running through the night. Although the exhaust was being piped out the back of the Uhaul, the generators still made too much heat and the back of the truck was around 90 ºF. Although the ICE-MITTs well exceeded all expectations, it was simply a bit too challenging trying to maintain the desired temperature gradient in that climate. Thus, we slowly began witnessing our first major uncontrolled temperature fluctuations. Our solution was to minimize the time the generators were running and anytime we weren't on the road, we plugged into wall outlets (surprisingly easy to find at hotels despite a few <i>interesting</i> but minor mishaps). We also experimented with using dry ice to cool the back, but it was simply too large of a space for the amount of dry ice we could obtain. In the future, we need to either cut a hole for venting in the truck (Uhaul probably wouldn't be too happy) or find a refrigerated truck. We did keep the back of the truck door partially opened and tied together with rope. Canadians, true to their reputation of being overly friendly/helpful, continuously tried waving us down on the highway to let us know that the back was open. The first few times I was concerned that perhaps the generators were falling out the back. Eventually, though, it got old pretty fast and was difficult to let people know that we were not purposely ignoring their dire warnings. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little kids pretending to be polar scientists</td></tr>
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The Yukon is beautiful. It was such torture though being on such a time crunch and also not having my skis. Around every turn was a mountain more beautiful than the last. Ellyn and I were nearly drooling the whole way picking out which ski lines we would take. I know British Columbia is quite beautiful as well, although the section we drove through was quite flat. Edmonton, AB was a well needed break point and our first opportunity (of many) to share our work with the general public. We stopped at the Telus World of Science museum and setup our demo/display for people to enjoy. It was such a blast sharing our adventures from the last 2 months and letting kids try on our Arctic clothing and play with the corer and <i>real</i> sea ice. <br />
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Entering the USA in North Dakota was our first sign that we indeed were making good progress. It was fun meeting up with friends now that we passed along the way. We also had countless incredible interactions with teachers and their classrooms as we continued the trek back to Dartmouth. Once the Uhaul finally pulled into campus last week, I think we were all thoroughly exhausted. Although there was some loss of the precise temperature gradient in the sea ice, we were pretty psyched to still have Arctic sea ice after such a long adventure. The number of obstacles/challenges we overcame is simply staggering. We turned off the generators for the final time, loaded all of the ICE-MITTs into a cold room at the med school, cleaned up our disaster we had created in the back of the Uhaul, and enjoyed a weekend off... finally.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why did the bison cross the road?</td></tr>
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Or so we thought... It turns out that the cold room in the med school failed that first night and turned the cold room into a sauna, thereby melting all of our sea ice. Although this was indeed a bit of a dagger to the heart (losing our ice at this point after overcoming so much), it is important to keep things in perspective before anyone starts sending any condolences. As a science project, we may not have the desired results. However, as an engineering project, the ICE-MITT tour was an incredible success. Our invention worked! We showed that we could maintain a temperature gradient in sea ice, even in a room temperature environment. The proof of concept represents a major step forward for transporting sea ice for future analysis. We had also prepared ourselves for total ICE-MITT failure by taking extra sea ice cores and shipping them isothermally with FedEx prior to leaving Barrow. Thus, we can still perform microstructural analysis with microCT on these cores that are now safely in the Thayer cold rooms.<br />
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<span id="goog_1175272701"></span><span id="goog_1175272702"></span>Sadly, this does represent the end of my 3rd (and potentially final) field season at Dartmouth. However, the adventures and stories I've had during these 3 expeditions will remain with me forever. Plus, knowing my interests, I'm sure I'll find my way back to one of the poles, if not both, at some point in the future. Until then, so long.<br />
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ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-76892338587141702112015-03-22T01:30:00.000-04:002015-03-22T01:31:47.080-04:00Nukka the ICE-MUTT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nukka the ICE-MUTT</td></tr>
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Meet Nukka, our ice-mutt. Long ago, shortly after coming up with the acronym ICE-MITT, we decided that we <i>needed</i> an ICE-MUTT now for this trip. As much as I love dogs, I never truly thought this dream could actually become a reality since my condo by-laws don't allow dogs. However, there is only so much joking/wishful thinking you can do with Ellyn regarding dogs before she just accepts it to be fact. Shorty after arriving in Barrow, we found our way to the animal shelter/vet where there routinely was several strays awaiting adoption always chained outside. It turns out that Barrow has a problem of too many dogs ending up at the shelter from abuse, abandonment, or some other reason. After hearing this at our first (of many) stops to play with the dogs, it was already a foregone conclusion: we were going to have an ICE-MUTT and there was no way Ellyn would be stopped. Of course there was still quite a few logistics such as getting the dog on a plane to Fairbanks, a 5,000 mile road trip in a Uhaul with a dog, who will actually adopt the dog when we get home, border patrol in both Canada and the USA, etc. However, before I realized this was indeed happening, Ellyn had already picked out a puppy, figured out the logistics, and had her family agree to adopt a dog from Barrow.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meeting Nukka for the 1st time</td></tr>
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Nukka is a beautiful mix of husky, pit bull, and potentially some other breeds. She is roughly 1 1/2 so Ellyn and I decided to split the difference of our birthdays and give her an "official" birthday of October 19, 2013. Her full name, Nukkalaq, means "little sister" in Inupiat. Until this week, she had never known a life outside of Barrow. That means no mountains, trees, or many of the strange creatures we have in the lower 48. The actual adoption day, the day we packed up and left Barrow, was a bit of an adventure. The night before we realized that she might not be able to cross border patrol in the USA since her rabies shot was less than 30 days ago. Ellyn woke up early, and frantically called and visited the vet to find that Nukka did indeed have shots from much earlier so we would be ok to cross. Whew, we still have our ICE-MUTT. 3 hours later, after loading all of the ICE-MITTs into our tiny little plane, we cleared out the front seat for Nukka and her crate, and she left the snow and ice of Barrow for the first time in her life. In Fairbanks, we transitioned to our Uhaul, and the front cab became her new home. Of course, as it turns out neither border patrol ever ended up checking her papers.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nukka likes to drive the Uhaul</td></tr>
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If you have ever done a long journey in a Uhaul truck, you can begin to appreciate what a drive from Fairbanks to New Hampshire might be like for 3 adults and a medium=sized dog crammed into the front cab. Nukka spends her days rotating from the laps of Rachel, Ellyn, and myself, often sprawling across all 3 of us at once. Recently, Nukka has decided that she enjoys driving and has started to lean up against the steering wheel. At first, it was only her head on my lap. Then slowly she started plopping the majority of her body on my lap as I drove. Next the head moved to be slightly leaning on the steering wheel. Once she started putting the paws on as well, I had to remind her that was where my hands belong. Today, she pushed even further and ended up honking the horn a couple of times, so we have had to set some new ground rules for driving. Although my space has become quite cramped, driving with a dog on your lap almost makes you forget how long this trip is and truly does make the miles go by much faster. Nukka is also a very fast learning, and already knows: sit, lay down, paw, double-high-five paw, and working on stay. She has also learned that we humans like to have snacks for long drives, and this makes for easy stealing when crammed in the cab of a Uhaul.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nukka sees mountains for the 1st time and doesn't know what she thinks of them </td></tr>
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Quick status update: We just reached the United States in North Dakota. Presented at a science museum in Edmonton yesterday, which went very well. Still have ice cores in the truck and ICE-MITTs running. Some issues with the back of the Uhaul getting to hot from the generators, but more on that later.<br />
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ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-73840270291408329232015-03-16T03:55:00.001-04:002015-03-16T03:55:30.311-04:00One ridiculous day of an ambitious trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loading the ICE-MITTs onto our plane</td></tr>
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This is a ridiculous and ambitious project. When I talk to my family and friends, they all think I'm crazy. I get that. First of all, I'm well aware that I'm not normal (nor do I aspire to be). But beyond the personal characterization, I understand that the general public considers any work in the Arctic or Antarctica to be foreign, unusual, fascinating, and just a bit different. One of the primary reasons for having this blog is to describe and share this incredible world with those in my life. Add in polar bears, a true electronics engineering project in -30 degree weather, and a logistical nightmare complete with snowmobiles, trucks, chartering a plane, Uhauls, generators, a 5,000-mile trip across the country with sea ice, and I start seeing why you all are explicitly calling me crazy for this project. However, it isn't fully until I start talking to all of the seasoned "experts" in the field and their eyes begin opening upon hearing about what we plan to do, that I truly appreciate just how ambitious of a project this is. Every step of the way, from the natives in Barrow to the sea ice scientists to the logistics support team, they all can't quite believe we have made it this far already. There are just so many places where things could go wrong and this project falls apart. Remember, if the ICE-MITTs stop working for just a few hours (I'm still shocked that they are OK while unplugged for 2-3 hours), the temperature gradient is gone and the experiment is a bust. Once we left Barrow, there is no option of simply getting a new sea ice core (although word on the street is that Massachusetts Bay had some sea ice this winter?...).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Psyched for the flight</td></tr>
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March 12 was pegged as the day that all had to go perfect because there were just too many opportunities for failure. After barely sleeping the night before from packing up all of our gear, we awoke and eagerly threw our belongings into the truck. We then corralled 5 trucks and generators to transport the ICE-MITTs in 2 trips from our base to the airplane hanger. Despite a few hiccups, we plugged the ICE-MITTs into electricity at the hanger by 11:15 am and so far, they are all still working. Next up was to gather the last of the gear and then start loading the plane. The guys take one look at our stuff and astonishingly ask if we do indeed need to try and fit all of it into this small little Beechcraft 1900. Although I had gone over the measurements ahead of time with the owner and told him that we would weigh about 2,400 lbs in total, all evidence suggested otherwise in regards to fitting. At first they tell us that the only way it can be done is if we tip the ICE-MITTs onto their side. I've never done this before and know they aren't built to carry their weight on edge, and am thus, super reluctant to agree. However, before I cave in (what other option do I have?), I see the pilot chucking seats out of the plane. Right.... Next they are asking us if we do really want all 4 people and our dog to fly (Dog?? Yes, we now have an ICE-MUTT by the name Nukka. Ellyn adopted her and there will be a whole post devoted to her later). A few magic tricks later, I see all of our ICE-MITTs, gear, and at least 4 seats on the plane, are somehow packed in and ready to go, with only 1 ICE-MITT tipped on edge. Time is 12:45 pm, which although only 45 minutes behind schedule, represents 45 minutes more of time where the ICE-MITTs are unplugged. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY89JFvkTeJ_rjN4Z8oD9gD67yyY6UuqObtPYC-9vKMyEWim9tlHU3qEH7IeT4xdnRkdSWfsXLlAHyCBwv4r32Q3WnkeP9JAdHOagKdrOWIsdHiraJkeioHD40Wp62X19dRRipAjP5UBI/s1600/DSCF1682.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY89JFvkTeJ_rjN4Z8oD9gD67yyY6UuqObtPYC-9vKMyEWim9tlHU3qEH7IeT4xdnRkdSWfsXLlAHyCBwv4r32Q3WnkeP9JAdHOagKdrOWIsdHiraJkeioHD40Wp62X19dRRipAjP5UBI/s1600/DSCF1682.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From plane to Uhaul</td></tr>
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Our pilot Wayne is great and agrees to keep the heat off on the flight (although slightly uncomfortable, less likely for ice to melt). After a beautiful flight over the Brooks range and seeing mountains and trees for the first time in 6 weeks, we touch down in Fairbanks, AK. 3:15 pm. We quickly unload the ICE-MITTs from the plane and find some outlets on the runway to plug everyone back in. Miraculously, all ICE-MITTs are still functioning, and even more impressively, the temperatures had only changed by 1-2 degrees despite being unplugged for 3.5 hours. Next up is getting our 17-ft Uhaul and two 5-kW generators for this epic roadtrip. All those logistics go smoothly so we return to the airport, transport the ICE-MITTs to a temporary storage facility, and head to my friend Marc's cabin to spend the evening. (Quick side note: Ellyn realizes she had lost her cellphone, but she somehow finds it buried in a snowbank when we return and search at the runway). Long at last, we celebrate a well earned dinner and my first opportunity to buy a beer in 6 weeks, at a delicious Thai restaurant. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifKIptZhX9G52V6BgJ4fi4K6WtvRtlxeBrBTtjsyjP8OsDPE4eQzO219DQz20FCAn5bXxja2fW3j975vV9KMH8tMvKNRxM7p4BLV7YAjlDo_GnQwKg5Zm-eUiyeqRNXtmYuEJc6Raus7A/s1600/DSCF1690.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifKIptZhX9G52V6BgJ4fi4K6WtvRtlxeBrBTtjsyjP8OsDPE4eQzO219DQz20FCAn5bXxja2fW3j975vV9KMH8tMvKNRxM7p4BLV7YAjlDo_GnQwKg5Zm-eUiyeqRNXtmYuEJc6Raus7A/s1600/DSCF1690.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All ICE-MITTs (and Nukka the ICE-MUTT) safe in Fairbanks</td></tr>
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After a couple of days in Fairbanks, it was sadly time to depart. However, since the weather had welcomed us with some more -30 degree days, we were more than happy to head southwards. The time in Fairbanks enabled us to "safely" pack our Uhaul, and rig our generators to funnel all the exhaust out the back. We said goodbye to Natalie who flew back to Dartmouth, and the 3 of us plus Nukka piled into the small cab to begin our 5,000 mile journey home. Although we still have quite a few miles (and likely adventures) ahead, I've got to say it is a big relief to see all 10 ICE-MITTs working while connected to 2 generators in a Uhaul, and still maintaining their desired temperatures. Yes, this is indeed a ridiculous expedition, but that is part of what has made it so exciting and enjoyable. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-gI7mVagH0s69UlsendY6MpZkptHcWGnjXGxjuGOIeNCYJvQmBmaFPAErCr_9CFHWnPZ8d2NjrwrCkV3UkhAfr9ie-GDVkWv7L-46mZiWKqYXqlhxR3zReJ8HqBjdWeeASTHRfYSLXso/s1600/IMG_3359.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-gI7mVagH0s69UlsendY6MpZkptHcWGnjXGxjuGOIeNCYJvQmBmaFPAErCr_9CFHWnPZ8d2NjrwrCkV3UkhAfr9ie-GDVkWv7L-46mZiWKqYXqlhxR3zReJ8HqBjdWeeASTHRfYSLXso/s1600/IMG_3359.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marc hosts us at his cabin in Fairbanks for 3 nights</td></tr>
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ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-85156537913048827452015-03-12T06:17:00.002-04:002015-03-12T06:50:02.514-04:00Finish with a Bang<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH6mvB2lbAS7mzRlk3WvZ0sXNdDT8gHes3Nd3xl0fXbxFRRMvahaRaKkYhEh1rXWGNLf43ONyvdHpNn5SM-8gjyfjYymg2_zl46mygs4TczqHcwJY8I0KTyPROQd-GoMNOkxvjlSJqQlQ/s1600/DSCF1608.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH6mvB2lbAS7mzRlk3WvZ0sXNdDT8gHes3Nd3xl0fXbxFRRMvahaRaKkYhEh1rXWGNLf43ONyvdHpNn5SM-8gjyfjYymg2_zl46mygs4TczqHcwJY8I0KTyPROQd-GoMNOkxvjlSJqQlQ/s1600/DSCF1608.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team shot from final day on the ice</td></tr>
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Tonight is our last night in Barrow, Alaska. The last night of our field campaign. In some ways it is very sad to be leaving such an incredible, majestic landscape that is so unique and foreign to anything back home. It marks the end of my 3rd successful field season and sadly I don't have any concrete plans to head to either p<span id="goog_669651583"></span><span id="goog_669651584"></span>ole in the near future (although if anyone is looking for an extra field hand... I am always interested). Unlike the end of most expeditions though, we are still a long ways from home. Although we are leaving Barrow tomorrow, our epic road trip is just commencing. This will be an adventure-filled 5,000 journey across Alaska, Canada, and the northern USA to attempt to bring our ICE-MITTs (and the sea ice inside) safely home to Dartmouth. You can be sure to catch all of our stories and fortunes (or misfortunes) right here on this blog (internet connectivity and my non-laziness/tiredness not withstanding).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJePcNvnhO2FuwxHmJGQpmNCeR-k93fumHNVx_0HpQAqM_OHVAGawjglIoE_eSkKHypyN52tF3z2FvzN4ig0M0vT9gvZyJN7Ri6h5xKtuP75BPGvciHvIDTtYBPoCG18cIGiy3pfU7U0/s1600/DSCF1626_cropped.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJePcNvnhO2FuwxHmJGQpmNCeR-k93fumHNVx_0HpQAqM_OHVAGawjglIoE_eSkKHypyN52tF3z2FvzN4ig0M0vT9gvZyJN7Ri6h5xKtuP75BPGvciHvIDTtYBPoCG18cIGiy3pfU7U0/s1600/DSCF1626_cropped.JPG" height="228" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr. Polar Bear comes to bid us farewell</td></tr>
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According to you, my readers, (by virtue of the number of site visits to this blog) the most interesting/exciting/awe-inspiring parts of this trip has been polar bear encounters and aurora sightings. I whole-heartedly agree. Thus, for our final full day here, the powers that be complied and gave us a final farewell of both. Ellyn has a philosophy that polar bears come out when the aurora will be good. Seeing as all 6 of our polar bear encounters have coincided with good aurora viewing evenings, she may be on to something.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkY84GYAtDh4mhFZVPdpwKqPyOaEzHyF83IUybN8TZE4IOTY4G4rrVtIwJwYk1qdJN9s0Z_-RlvRurfzq99_z5V-Hsv9XkYJOVmL7Hupo6M17Y0LyozzLl4xqgSFqQhgO2vjvBd4CMtU/s1600/DSCF1651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkY84GYAtDh4mhFZVPdpwKqPyOaEzHyF83IUybN8TZE4IOTY4G4rrVtIwJwYk1qdJN9s0Z_-RlvRurfzq99_z5V-Hsv9XkYJOVmL7Hupo6M17Y0LyozzLl4xqgSFqQhgO2vjvBd4CMtU/s1600/DSCF1651.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ellyn takes in the aurora on our last night</td></tr>
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We had pretty much just finished packing when Natalie and Rachel decided to take a walk in town. For those of you following closely, Natalie just arrived last weekend and is here only for our final week. She was one of the students who helped come up with the original design of the ICE-MITT over 2 years ago. Shortly after they left, Ellyn and I received a text to put on our coats. Immediately we knew this meant a polar bear must be around so all 4 of us jumped into the truck and hit the road. As we are driving down the road (quite slowly I might add as we were carefully scanning around to find the polar bear), we suddenly see him (or maybe her?) strut out and cross the road directly in front of us. This prompted Rachel to ask the age-old question, "Why did the polar bear cross the road?" At only 10 feet from our truck, this was definitely our closest encounter and easily the highlight of Natalie's week here in Barrow.<br />
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To top it off this evening (just minutes ago), Ellyn and I did one final drive to the end of the road at the northernmost point in the US. The aurora spirits rewarded us with one final beautiful showing of dancing greens shimmering across the sky. A beautiful reminder that the Arctic is one of the most special environments in this world. A place I know that I will surely return at some point in my future. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5gCsaXGQklCV_jFFPCW-Y5yUSwZT8mqjvU5rnZe_es2wcsKNs8BVHNrnfaDGorFeD3b6NcO8uI-zyFU7RrnoHShmce6ahneGMiYyaJBK7aFT995_YbMv4UOQsfs1iM-kiz75kACUpV8/s1600/DSCF1519.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5gCsaXGQklCV_jFFPCW-Y5yUSwZT8mqjvU5rnZe_es2wcsKNs8BVHNrnfaDGorFeD3b6NcO8uI-zyFU7RrnoHShmce6ahneGMiYyaJBK7aFT995_YbMv4UOQsfs1iM-kiz75kACUpV8/s1600/DSCF1519.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goodbye, for now, Barrow</td></tr>
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</div>
ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-85688693775493742792015-03-05T05:17:00.001-05:002015-03-05T05:48:22.201-05:00One week to go<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZwVjMwROWJPprAG4jTIXngBEjWqPQLzqrYoj-NbN4985wxZ9OwZ3-b1AjkcpZVG-qEVMiBI4x-rpCTGy4zckQxq4znwAbgaSSDdZ11ofrBX8vzbfWNEcHMvOsHY-m__bKSzEd-cBdJ0/s1600/DSCF1276B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZwVjMwROWJPprAG4jTIXngBEjWqPQLzqrYoj-NbN4985wxZ9OwZ3-b1AjkcpZVG-qEVMiBI4x-rpCTGy4zckQxq4znwAbgaSSDdZ11ofrBX8vzbfWNEcHMvOsHY-m__bKSzEd-cBdJ0/s1600/DSCF1276B.JPG" height="228" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The intrepid ICE-MITT team</td></tr>
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Wow. Where does the time go? Ellyn and I did a radio show Tuesday night (you can listen to the podcast here: <a href="http://photographybydennisprice.weebly.com/radio-hotline.html">http://photographybydennisprice.weebly.com/radio-hotline.html</a>) and it suddenly struck me how quickly the time has gone. When doing work in the poles, it is well known that the best laid plans are really only suggestions/guidelines at best. However, during the planning stages of this project, I truthfully thought that the field portion here in Barrow was going to be very relaxing and restful (at least in comparison to the crunch I had been in all fall trying to build the ICE-MITTs). We only had 10 ICE-MITTs and wanted both spatial and temporal variability in our core collection over the 6 weeks we would be here. We had briefly discussed collecting a few cores immediately from several different locations, perhaps a couple of cores in the middle, and then the final cores during our last few days. If all goes smoothly (ha!), it really didn't sound like a ton of work. I even started thinking that I could catch up on writing papers from past projects during all of the "free" time that I would have. Well, for those of you who have closely followed all of our adventures or have spent any time in the Arctic/Antarctic yourself, no explanation is necessary to find where 5 weeks went (thin ice, misbehaving ICE-MITTs, broken ice cores, an electronics graveyards, weather, polar bear encounters, etc.). <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGI_S_JvAsLidYGUaLEZHZA7rVsKYSagpLkIf20sFPYvarqmFsYWh_wM9L4Ww4yyrw6NSdFl-7b9Dv26k2EFsVeNA3_vxZLX0NbTPUKUiQTfo-SGn9ou0dyKd6jBWvT4UGzM8TDq0pdeg/s1600/DSCF0732.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGI_S_JvAsLidYGUaLEZHZA7rVsKYSagpLkIf20sFPYvarqmFsYWh_wM9L4Ww4yyrw6NSdFl-7b9Dv26k2EFsVeNA3_vxZLX0NbTPUKUiQTfo-SGn9ou0dyKd6jBWvT4UGzM8TDq0pdeg/s1600/DSCF0732.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Installing the wire harp</td></tr>
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Well, for those keeping score at home, we currently have 7 ICE-MITTs running and 3 ICE-MITTs empty and awaiting cores from the final week. We have found several good coring locations for spatial variability, have kept a steady schedule for temporal variability, and without a doubt have had quite a bit of weather variability. We have also twice cut out a 3 ft by 3 ft hole in the ice and installed a "wire harp." We are using this to measure electrical impedance and temperature of the ice as it grows. Yesterday, we realized for the first time that we were both ahead of schedule scientifically and had beautiful weather. Thus, we took the opportunity to collect some "free" extra data points for our last project. If you recall, this project involved erecting a blowing-snow catching tower. We then analyzed the chemistry of the blowing snow to determine at what point salts such as bromide are converted into reactive gases (e.g. bromine) and participate in ozone depletion events. When your research requires expensive field campaigns, you do not let a day (especially a beautiful -15 ºF and only 10 mph winds day) go to waste.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH8BNazFAz5rZFzl7C9BsMp3krFCZxyhFXAFzP0wP4vr1knwo72BrzGviwRmprpCAUl20OIknQIIypGzNnSUwwLCAGvj6Q5G-eLQf3Jard5OXdgU9NnZIa-pRddUPkBXrGg3gV8T34l_U/s1600/DSCF1244.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH8BNazFAz5rZFzl7C9BsMp3krFCZxyhFXAFzP0wP4vr1knwo72BrzGviwRmprpCAUl20OIknQIIypGzNnSUwwLCAGvj6Q5G-eLQf3Jard5OXdgU9NnZIa-pRddUPkBXrGg3gV8T34l_U/s1600/DSCF1244.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The snow catcher back in action </td></tr>
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So what's next? Immediately in our future is 1 final week of collecting 3 ice cores, packing everything up, chartering a plane to Fairbanks, and starting the epic ICE-MITT: The Tour road-trip home. However, once we get back to Dartmouth and relax for perhaps 85 seconds, we get started on analysis before the ICE-MITTs decide they are tired and want to quit. This involves cutting up the ice core and taking small 1" cubic samples to analyze with a micro-CT (think Cat-Scan at the hospital, except smaller and inside a cold room). This allows us to create a virtual 3-D reconstruction of the sample showing the ice, air pockets, and brine channels. At this point, we get to invoke all of the fun mathematics of topology to describe the network of brine channels, and analyze how transport processes are controlled by the microstructure. If this sounds interesting to you, please let me know as we have endless hours of samples to run on the micro-CT and haven't you always wanted to put chunks of ice into a CT machine?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMzHS2L36r1IrHRWfLqGj15MxkMT39Kq2PBmz39-MGpPOYxz1AsOZzrOxD92d42KIBhGa0oOYuDziBQP_VWpxKrtpYzEzEk-OksZaV8SgHmtLxRiC6arVyPKfM4QMPf81sv6lZYYQZcLs/s1600/image2.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMzHS2L36r1IrHRWfLqGj15MxkMT39Kq2PBmz39-MGpPOYxz1AsOZzrOxD92d42KIBhGa0oOYuDziBQP_VWpxKrtpYzEzEk-OksZaV8SgHmtLxRiC6arVyPKfM4QMPf81sv6lZYYQZcLs/s1600/image2.bmp" height="284" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Micro-CT image showing brine channels of different sizes in different colors</td></tr>
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ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-70720977547389370092015-03-01T06:21:00.003-05:002015-03-01T06:33:02.223-05:00When Disaster (Almost) Strikes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
(Part 1)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUzcHk0gVlxCgC0tgALb94XyNGuDLdYkdI0aY5mmHc9EaUu8YwoL7VKoqSZjA1AR050ppe5zkBrCJVGFwv6Zo9Z2_ZA-WqQRwBiw2xRCJ9aqu8BTops6fjlLvTdQbLsq71lx_ik6WNp7U/s1600/DSCF1113.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUzcHk0gVlxCgC0tgALb94XyNGuDLdYkdI0aY5mmHc9EaUu8YwoL7VKoqSZjA1AR050ppe5zkBrCJVGFwv6Zo9Z2_ZA-WqQRwBiw2xRCJ9aqu8BTops6fjlLvTdQbLsq71lx_ik6WNp7U/s1600/DSCF1113.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Planting a flag from a school to be visited on our trip home</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Perhaps I jinxed ourselves. I was starting to feel pretty good about our progress during this field campaign. We had just passed the halfway point and half of our ICE-MITTs were filled. More remarkably, they seemed to be working as desired. I even mentioned that perhaps we could have a few days off since we wanted to space out our core collection. Ellyn and I decided to celebrate by watching a movie and sleeping in a bit the next morning. That morning, I hear Ellyn head out the door to drive Rachel to the office. As I groggily consume my breakfast, I'm jolted awake as Ellyn returns a few minutes later telling me to get dressed and get out the door in 30 seconds. Apparently, 2 of our ICE-MITTs have gone brain-dead. We quickly get over to the Theatre (the Quonset hut we use for staging and storing the ICE-MITTs) to find that 2 ICE-MITTs do indeed have no digital display. We frantically begin uncovering them (of course these 2 are stacked on the bottom) in the howling wind and blowing snow. Upon opening the first ICE-MITT, we find the power supply covered in snow and thus, have a pretty good guess on what the problem is. However, now that we have the troubled ICE-MITT indoors, the snow is melting onto the rest of the electronics. Further, every second the ICE-MITT is unplugged, we are not cooling the core to the desired temperature and are slowly losing the critical temperature gradient (<i>Note: once the temperature profile is lost, the structure of the ice changes and can not be recovered</i>). In the back of my mind, a timer starts ticking, marking how long we have before this ice core is no longer usable. Of course, this timer is not precise as I'm not sure when during the night the ICE-MITT died. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw0afZ30nmz0obn9oEJTD21SN1ozKq1Sbzxz1JPWV_8qK98ZN7Krz7fNt-vb1H47ZKpk5rmb9w-T5njl69EZVwPVYOYCtefS0veW3Ep4DfFxxbAOesdMj-j9JNYJQwd_095I-nKMeMga8/s1600/IMG_0874.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw0afZ30nmz0obn9oEJTD21SN1ozKq1Sbzxz1JPWV_8qK98ZN7Krz7fNt-vb1H47ZKpk5rmb9w-T5njl69EZVwPVYOYCtefS0veW3Ep4DfFxxbAOesdMj-j9JNYJQwd_095I-nKMeMga8/s1600/IMG_0874.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finding the temperature profiles still intact</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If we are to save the ice cores, I see two options: A) Take the core out of the box and place into a new ICE-MITT or B) Replace the power supply, hope nothing else failed or short-circuited, and try to restart the current ICE-MITT. I'm afraid of option A since we could damage the core during the move, are exposing it to really warm temps, and are running low on empty ICE-MITTs. The timer in my head tells me I can only try one option, and thus, put all of my eggs in basket B. As we open up the electronics, I also find a damaged resistor. I quickly set up a soldering fix and play with the electronics, while Ellyn quickly cleans out any visible moisture. We pilfer a power supply from an empty ICE-MITT, plug-in, give a quick high-five upon seeing the box now works, and start on the 2nd dead ICE-MITT. Another frantic, but successful, repair has both boxes up and running again. We venture back out into the storm and attempt to wrap all of the ICE-MITTs with tarps to protect against more blowing snow. Anyone who has tried to fold a sail in a hurricane knows that this is a near impossible task. After a very ugly, but somewhat thorough wrapping, we peek at my computer logging the temperature profiles from all the boxes. We are relieved to see the cores are indeed ok and that the temperature profile remained intact. The failures must have been fairly recent and the layers of insulation did their job (<i>Note: this will also be key for the plane ride from Barrow to Fairbanks in 2 weeks)</i>. We head in to town for a late, but well-earned lunch, and happy that our work for the day was now complete.<br />
<br />
Or so we thought... After lunch, we return to find another ICE-MITT had gone brain-dead. Having done this fix twice already, we quickly assumed positions and started replacing power supplies again. However, we had now run out of extra power supplies. This time we decide to combine two ICE-MITTs that each had only filled 1 of the 2 core slots. This also allows us to better protect all of the remaining power supplies from future failure. During this fix though, we realize several of the push buttons on the exterior became damaged during the exchange. Once again we poach from empty ICE-MITTs, set-up a quick soldering station, and are able to keep everything up and running. I'm not sure if I've ever been as happy as I was that evening finally going to bed and seeing all of the display panels still reading the desired temperature profiles. Crisis averted.<br />
<br />
(Part 2)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOhEhKUXPiK9yFhGCd-dFTnSfLHS6vGzZbIRQHV79prF41rVvGlEgv3avt4eIVkUdjmIiqQ9wyz1YChpaP-ZvSFPEF66sbZla6nYcbMDwjSsOK-4Y4KDJA9_ZWbcF_tsT4yeRZw49sSWQ/s1600/IMG_0875.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOhEhKUXPiK9yFhGCd-dFTnSfLHS6vGzZbIRQHV79prF41rVvGlEgv3avt4eIVkUdjmIiqQ9wyz1YChpaP-ZvSFPEF66sbZla6nYcbMDwjSsOK-4Y4KDJA9_ZWbcF_tsT4yeRZw49sSWQ/s1600/IMG_0875.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our ICE-MITTs battle the weather</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm starting to sense a theme in the Arctic: wind, blowing snow, and low visibility are not your friend (despite having wished for those conditions frequently during our last project). This week's weather has oscillated drastically from warm and calm to blowing white-out. This morning we woke up to a calm 5-10 mph winds and warm temps. We decided to try a new site, successfully extracted a two-part core, and even stopped for our first seal viewing during the trip home. After getting our fill of seal photos (and convincing our bear guard not to claim his dinner), we started cross frozen Elson Lagoon to take us back. Within minutes though, the weather turned and we found ourselves in 30+ mph winds and complete whiteout conditions. I can barely see the snowmobile in front of me, not to mention the horizon or even the ice below me. Having seen the forecast in the morning, I am thankful to have worn my warm clothes despite the hot start to the day. As our guide begins stopping more frequently, I realize that this is going to be a long trip home.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvRw6VtMdGYxrSXYfzJrYNDWdUUBukwUetsz2kVNkh4tgcCzCDCKecKAyiVNDLLsnNOoO_HD9AesRnjQjaAiE3rTR8n_SkYs8Gqu78rSXJZQk3sCiLy9qarKFsPQN02FoqYOk4djP81s/s1600/10676197_958461594172791_539347198987509339_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvRw6VtMdGYxrSXYfzJrYNDWdUUBukwUetsz2kVNkh4tgcCzCDCKecKAyiVNDLLsnNOoO_HD9AesRnjQjaAiE3rTR8n_SkYs8Gqu78rSXJZQk3sCiLy9qarKFsPQN02FoqYOk4djP81s/s1600/10676197_958461594172791_539347198987509339_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spotted seal on our trip home</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Without any landmarks, the guide is forced to navigate solely based on the GPS. Frozen fingers and battery life prevent keeping the GPS constantly out, and trying to follow a straight line in these conditions is near impossible. I pull out my phone for a second mapping aid and for the few minutes before the battery dies, we are able to see we have drifted a bit further south than we wanted. Luckily at that moment, the sun peeks through and we have a reliable point of reference for a brief window. Our guide has me lead as I try to take a straight line with the sun directly to my left. Upon reflection, plowing forwards into a complete wall of white and nothing in front of me is a pretty mesmerizing feeling (and a bit like trying to walk around outside with your eyes closed). Although still a good ways from home, it is a relief to hit land again and know that we are off the lagoon (although in truth, there isn't much difference driving across tundra vs the lagoon). Shortly before reaching the road however, I look back and realize our guide has disappeared into the empty whiteness. At this point we had reached a building/structure so Rachel, Ellyn, and I gather together and can identify our location. We radio in and after a few interesting minutes, our guide circles around the other side of the building. We return back, psyched to warm up, and impressed to find our ICE-MITT still humming away as though in paradise. Since our radio conversation had been heard by the rest of the staff, we are even treated to home-made cookies upon getting back to our hut.<br />
<br />
Moral of the stories: There is no such thing as being over-prepared in the Arctic both in terms of the science and in terms of safety. Although we have emptied much of our ICE-MITT parts reserves, I'm very happy we haven't had to tap into the safety reserves/survival gear but thankful we always have it with us. </div>
ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-10419744171994512572015-02-23T16:48:00.001-05:002015-02-23T16:57:56.101-05:00Halfway Point Check-in<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Since we have just crossed into the second half of our field campaign here in Barrow, I thought it was a good time to summarize what has occurred so far:<br />
<br />
- Polar bear encounters: 4<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh021PtCpwy0l3-QF_5pwrwOKaf5Z4xeVb5fWJo4UPXpt6CzvjOoUrVubT-Yx7T6XuELg039DvV6IVesvTfkpZ36v-0GAJXMv0foAGUdvEBUbeVnUDMf318fLGPmuSDdBkwF8g4tJ1wLMw/s1600/DSCF0878.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh021PtCpwy0l3-QF_5pwrwOKaf5Z4xeVb5fWJo4UPXpt6CzvjOoUrVubT-Yx7T6XuELg039DvV6IVesvTfkpZ36v-0GAJXMv0foAGUdvEBUbeVnUDMf318fLGPmuSDdBkwF8g4tJ1wLMw/s1600/DSCF0878.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our newest polar bear friend</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
- Arctic fox seen: 1<br />
- Caribou herds seen: 1<br />
- Lowest wind chill: -55<br />
- Snowmobile flips: 1 (ask Ellyn)<br />
- Fingers lost: 0- Days spent out on the sea ice: 12<br />
- Total ice cores collected: 23 <br />
- Ice cores collected and kept with their temperature gradient in tact: 8<br />
- Ice cores collected that have now become "test" ice cores: 9<br />
- Ice cores collected with temperature purposely not kept (control experiment): 6<br />
- ICE-MITTs sitting outside and working as desired (each one can hold 2 cores): 5<br />
- ICE-MITTs sitting inside and ready to go out: 4<br />
- ICE-MITTs sitting in the hospital and awaiting new power supply: 1<br />
- Power supplies broken: 3<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHgNuACHjpzxMhR3lhmK2Tn76E6YwjYZ2d9h6jy0b5nzJpTkPTt15FA6ZeS-ty1lMG8aCU_O9_p7S0mxOyf62z7-JiFmRA-20rjJTqN9-1HQSn6uS4ieG0cDaL_6Ms30ynMOjl2L2DfQ/s1600/DSCF0994.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHgNuACHjpzxMhR3lhmK2Tn76E6YwjYZ2d9h6jy0b5nzJpTkPTt15FA6ZeS-ty1lMG8aCU_O9_p7S0mxOyf62z7-JiFmRA-20rjJTqN9-1HQSn6uS4ieG0cDaL_6Ms30ynMOjl2L2DfQ/s1600/DSCF0994.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Graveyard" for ICE-MITT parts </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
- ICE-MITTs repaired at some point: 4/10<br />
- Repairs to/rewiring of ICE-MITT #4 (my least favorite box): 6<br />
- Total ICE-MITT parts now in the graveyard:7<br />
- Middle school classrooms visited: 2<br />
- Community potlucks attended (complete with lots of whale to eat): 2 <br />
- Hummus containers consumed: 7<br />
- Authentic Mexican lunches eaten (new take-out restaurant in town): 12<br />
- Dinners at Northern Lights restaurant (our favorite of the 6 restaurants in town): 9<br />
- Nights with beautiful aurora viewings: 5<br />
- Aurora viewing nights that ended with polar bear encounters: 2<br />
- Bottles of alcohol consumed: classified<br />
- Valentines Day chocolate boxes eaten: 5 (containing roughly 96 chocolates) <br />
- Large holes cut into the sea ice: 1<br />
- Dogs visited at the Barrow animal shelter: 5 <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC_EL_rfLY7nruiESdFfuQNDRpKLuOt1utAiwApYJ2M1Bh9Dm0iPAOUyHFrj5G4RLFM8-3OgYnchHqa95XuhJbuEQJ2KdRtv7q4lZmsg9eCsMRLzrFU1FQjkefykFPCnoagH9i5vUDLQM/s1600/DSCF0867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC_EL_rfLY7nruiESdFfuQNDRpKLuOt1utAiwApYJ2M1Bh9Dm0iPAOUyHFrj5G4RLFM8-3OgYnchHqa95XuhJbuEQJ2KdRtv7q4lZmsg9eCsMRLzrFU1FQjkefykFPCnoagH9i5vUDLQM/s1600/DSCF0867.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ellyn playing with an ICE-MUTT</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And some mid-term report card grades:<br />
<b>Science: A-</b><br />
The ICE-MITTs work! As most of my readers know, I don't really consider myself an engineer, but am faking my way through this project as a mechanical/electrical/software engineer. Having built the ICE-MITTs personally and having essentially no time for testing prior to shipping, I put the probability of success around 20%. Although we have had some breaks/repairs, the ICE-MITTs more or less work as intended. I'm still afraid to say this out loud in case I jinx them. <br />
<br />
<b>Wildlife: B+ </b><br />
Polar bear encounters have been incredible, although one was a little too close for comfort (see earlier blog post on this subject). This grade stays in the B range though until we have more fox, caribou, or seal encounters. Obviously, whale spottings would boost this eternally to the A range, but are unlikely since we try to avoid the open water. <br />
<br />
<b>Outreach: A</b><br />
Our first trip to the middle school was fantastic and the kids were thoroughly engaged. Coming up, we have 2 radio shows planned, potentially a couple more events with the Barrow schools, 6 stops along our road trip home, and lots of great blogging.<br />
<br />
<b>Weather: C</b><br />
When we arrived, sea ice conditions were pretty poor. There were very few regions with ice thicker than 3 ft (required for our ICE-MITTs) and even open water just 1/2 mile from shore. However, our first week or so was quite cold and the ice started to grow. Recently though, we have had a heat wave with temperatures getting above 0 ºF. At first glance, this seems nice for doing work outside. Unfortunately though, here in Barrow warm temperatures usually mean strong wind with lots of blowing snow and white-out conditions. Thus, we aren't able to even go outside this morning. For reference, ideal weather would be temperatures around -10 ºF, no wind, and ice about 5-6 feet thick.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JAyQWjrJIGKN-CrckbeVMJXgQ0TO1fYRLCcCeQ8YuCryh3IkysdCZn8zIt1O82DqNbfxQAzDviy1Soum2jNNuxs8E75zopHWJ5lsC2fCV42rzQTrvtApplc4iaEg3_53nztcLaNbh6E/s1600/DSCF0846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JAyQWjrJIGKN-CrckbeVMJXgQ0TO1fYRLCcCeQ8YuCryh3IkysdCZn8zIt1O82DqNbfxQAzDviy1Soum2jNNuxs8E75zopHWJ5lsC2fCV42rzQTrvtApplc4iaEg3_53nztcLaNbh6E/s1600/DSCF0846.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ice Core Wars</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br /></div>
ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-50485062965123929322015-02-21T23:11:00.001-05:002015-02-22T00:55:58.219-05:00Kivgiq<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHWVRYvM_HU0P0sILJt2R30ofhvtw5SCU9nGnZoSz7ExoSeF7X1QxLmpzrMpwPplhjvUmGkcyFCheEywoyGjGXL5YtZNG4cphB-IhyXURWm_gpKqIZPJainPBd8VZjmRZ8niG8tMXu3s/s1600/IMG_0478.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHWVRYvM_HU0P0sILJt2R30ofhvtw5SCU9nGnZoSz7ExoSeF7X1QxLmpzrMpwPplhjvUmGkcyFCheEywoyGjGXL5YtZNG4cphB-IhyXURWm_gpKqIZPJainPBd8VZjmRZ8niG8tMXu3s/s1600/IMG_0478.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drums, dancing, and banging on loud box</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Honor the elders.
Prior to my visit, I had a general understanding that the Inuit cared
for their elders in a stronger sense than most people do in the rest
of the United States. However, I didn't gain a full appreciation for
this until being here in person. Honoring ones elders isn't simply
an expression up here; it's a constant part of the daily life.
Whether it be at large gatherings, on the radio, walking around town,
in a restaurant, on billboards, etc. there is constant conversation
regarding the subject. For example, a radio host doesn't simply make
a comment in passing. If he is discussing a controversial subject,
part of the conversation is that you should seek advice from the
elders. They have lived, survived, and thrived in this community for
a long time and know what works well and what doesn't. Respect their
ability to make decisions as they have more experiences to draw upon
and seek their counseling on new topics. This doesn't mean do
whatever the elders tell you, but rather ensure that they are an
integral part of the conversation and allow them to lead.
<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuEJxCyUGYNF_YusfO4MaJPNOquKXiaRM51C34T3p04jC3oRhQMdRodhwg-554DHZ2egV6OKYmEs8tw-j6vjf6OzgGIzoV6gV1ngYoeFsvvbargCTwwvuqZNlRaW5PtWC_t8is6nAhKpc/s1600/DSCF0606.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuEJxCyUGYNF_YusfO4MaJPNOquKXiaRM51C34T3p04jC3oRhQMdRodhwg-554DHZ2egV6OKYmEs8tw-j6vjf6OzgGIzoV6gV1ngYoeFsvvbargCTwwvuqZNlRaW5PtWC_t8is6nAhKpc/s1600/DSCF0606.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Traditional dancing</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We had the good fortune of being here in Barrow during the Kivgiq festival last week. This festival (the Messenger Feast) is held in late Jan or Feb every 2-3 years, attracts people from all across the North Slope of Alaska, Canada, and even Russia for 6 days of solid dancing and feasting. The name historically comes from the feast for the two messengers sent to travel to neighboring communities and invite them to the festival. The main celebration was in the high school gym and featured dance troupe after dance troupe dressed in festive clothing, beating whale-skin drums, and performing traditional dances. Performances would run all day and well into the wee hours of the night, with seemingly no concern for young kids awake until midnight. Every community in attendance had at least one dance troupe, with seemingly everyone participating in the dances, from the young kids all the way through to the elders. All elders were given reserved seats up front and each group would usually begin by honoring the elders up front as well as the elders in their troupe. It was truly remarkable the reverence elders from all regions are shown.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2JQIxUjSY-pY7EuxjdhAlUoBikb7sKH-jBgkj0QGbE_FQyTcqL1drjx7BsO5x2IpVAAyTvS7VNTaqaRj9NwjbfC3K5hVTCxkvf0Ior1losyMRfoTC5DBinRUtk7iaCbWP3_30mK1TAk/s1600/IMG_0472.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2JQIxUjSY-pY7EuxjdhAlUoBikb7sKH-jBgkj0QGbE_FQyTcqL1drjx7BsO5x2IpVAAyTvS7VNTaqaRj9NwjbfC3K5hVTCxkvf0Ior1losyMRfoTC5DBinRUtk7iaCbWP3_30mK1TAk/s1600/IMG_0472.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2 caribou stews, frozen fish, whale meat</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Wednesday featured the community potluck, a feast attended by several thousand people, quite impressive for a community of less than 5,000. I had the opportunity to try several different caribou stews, frozen fish, and whale meat of many varieties (boiled, raw, frozen). Muktuk is the most well-known way to eat whale, where you are given raw pieces of the skin and blubber. The hardest to eat was a frozen hunk of the flipper that I personally thought needed a chainsaw to get through. Other than the flipper, I do quite enjoy whale but think I prefer the caribou stew. As part of the festivities, there was a large craft fair with exquisite hand-made goods including carvings, slippers, earrings, mittens, miniature boats, etc. The grand finale of Kivgiq came to an end with a procession of all the groups amassing into an epic final series of songs. The mayor of Barrow gave a few words and the "final" song continued on for many, many iterations. Eventually I left close to 1:00 am when it seemed the chant for "one more song" would never end. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTCr9RwqQUU0HEuYPLVLCWdFaHf1TjpQOc6rqNbJCmDMeceWpPL1wJ0ESmhfiFV2aowzDb-gqO0QS2oaLsWqT6OYWCllQWgzw9bLWQs35ktIISiWbBOel3mBK8ApW1I4lii8xawU_b0_M/s1600/DSCF0616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTCr9RwqQUU0HEuYPLVLCWdFaHf1TjpQOc6rqNbJCmDMeceWpPL1wJ0ESmhfiFV2aowzDb-gqO0QS2oaLsWqT6OYWCllQWgzw9bLWQs35ktIISiWbBOel3mBK8ApW1I4lii8xawU_b0_M/s1600/DSCF0616.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Young drummer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42qdWfyfQ-5DO5QJ2iR5Oc5PKpQHe62lkrYUgVJStqzQhhRSXzQvEWiHUVSIIi2zK0BZtL8iVLD2-hLvSs4_U-u_ASjJ5xms03G8d6L_v6jXmkNjuhF_a6aNEAVlyfAUiyCqLNlNrSJU/s1600/IMG_0489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42qdWfyfQ-5DO5QJ2iR5Oc5PKpQHe62lkrYUgVJStqzQhhRSXzQvEWiHUVSIIi2zK0BZtL8iVLD2-hLvSs4_U-u_ASjJ5xms03G8d6L_v6jXmkNjuhF_a6aNEAVlyfAUiyCqLNlNrSJU/s1600/IMG_0489.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Closing ceremony</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-88119620875880364302015-02-17T03:47:00.000-05:002015-02-17T03:53:23.246-05:00At least I didn't get eaten<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Mom (and maybe any
other moms out there), please don't read this next story. <br><br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkYbb5SkQ4lbg8RVy5eh-mLA8zTyVfL2LptNIJeoeOj5TVr9kiup9dGhX9YtujAJfODiABzUq740eMDF9OlIaaIvUjaqFiDpRayXoXpTSwXixL8cLZ98PM2rPPdE0Kd-AAFbAU7X0qP8g/s1600/DSCF0525.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkYbb5SkQ4lbg8RVy5eh-mLA8zTyVfL2LptNIJeoeOj5TVr9kiup9dGhX9YtujAJfODiABzUq740eMDF9OlIaaIvUjaqFiDpRayXoXpTSwXixL8cLZ98PM2rPPdE0Kd-AAFbAU7X0qP8g/s1600/DSCF0525.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My new friend coming to visit</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We had
just had a pretty lovely evening watching the aurora at the
northernmost tip of land to truly ensure total darkness (not that
Barrow really has lots of light pollution). It was a perfectly clear
night giving us spectacular stargazing. Having a two jet aurora
flickering across the sky really made it magical. Recognizing my
inability to take good photographs, I had perched myself up on top of
a large snowbank while Rachel fiddled with trying to set appropriate
camera settings. Before she was able to capture a good shot, someone
came by and asked us to tow them out of a snow bank. Since it was
quite chilly, we decided to just head back to our hut afterwards,
sadly without a good aurora photo. As I lay trying to fall asleep
though, the sudden urge to get at least one good aurora photo kicked
me out of bed.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBJH1jPCip4Eh9eulGsCGXt-lcxm1VfQN1f7Yb2N4fi1ID_CAdcNc8ezmjKBetdHHIWBacz2ngQhuAtgTMmuVVUJP_OoODi1Bo0LpL3W4NL5VSApe_ma9sHwOqP60ysG9syNUh0psH7QQ/s1600/DSCF0559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBJH1jPCip4Eh9eulGsCGXt-lcxm1VfQN1f7Yb2N4fi1ID_CAdcNc8ezmjKBetdHHIWBacz2ngQhuAtgTMmuVVUJP_OoODi1Bo0LpL3W4NL5VSApe_ma9sHwOqP60ysG9syNUh0psH7QQ/s1600/DSCF0559.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perpetual sunset here in the Arctic</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I haphazardly threw on my Carhartt biberalls, my big
“aurora green” expedition Canada Goose park, and my -100 degree
boots, all half buckled/zipped, but enough to keep me warm. I laid
down on the snow right outside the hut, setup the tripod, slowed the
shutter speed down to the max of 8 seconds, increased the ISO, and
finally thought I was starting to pick something up in the image.
Although the aurora was starting to fade, especially right next to
the hut, I was starting to get a feel for what was needed. On the
other side of the truck, I heard some footsteps. Strange, I thought
for so late at night as I continued to adjust the camera and prepare
the next photo. With my fingers freezing during the following 8
seconds, a trigger goes off in my mind, alerting me that something
isn't right.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgSKGA4fAtzXophrHZZiplmDWQl_vkgMS5AxhM5-UVGTTxTT7ovJZiR6Ck12S7IYnBe25LDJM0G_UyTuwmTxVNjNJs1ReYZod6pYfnS_8RWXVW8CyecTZWf75uWoqZ_MdxW7EhqjJZsZo/s1600/DSCF0716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgSKGA4fAtzXophrHZZiplmDWQl_vkgMS5AxhM5-UVGTTxTT7ovJZiR6Ck12S7IYnBe25LDJM0G_UyTuwmTxVNjNJs1ReYZod6pYfnS_8RWXVW8CyecTZWf75uWoqZ_MdxW7EhqjJZsZo/s1600/DSCF0716.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ice sculptures (filling the spot for the bear photo)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's 1:30 am. Our hut is the last building, with
nothing but open tundra on one side and on the other, just the road
followed by the expanse of sea ice. More footsteps. Rachel is
definitely asleep. There's a chance that Ellyn is still awake, but
she wouldn't be walking around quietly outside. There really is no
reason for anyone else to be here. I grab the camera, and stumble
over my excessively large clothes to get on my feet. Just on the
other side of the truck, perhaps 30 feet from me, are two 8-foot tall
polar bears. Suppressing my fear and trying to remain calm, I
quickly scan for safe spots: the hut and the truck. Before I even
have the chance to observe what type of mood the bear was in (This is
not as weird as it sounds. The first thing they teach in bear safety
classes is to determine if the bear looks aggressive, surprised,
curious, protecting its cubs, etc. as your response will be different
in each case), or consider if the bears had been stalking me for
dinner as I lay quietly on the ground snapping photos, I'm already
inside the truck. I had quickly determined that the hut was too
dangerous as it would require me getting closer to the bears in order
to reach the front door, while the truck was only a few feet from me.
I start up the truck and the engine quickly scare the bears off.
Although I tried following in the truck, they are quickly on the sea
ice and out of sight before I can get a photo or wakeup Rachel and
Ellyn. I'm quickly learning there is a very practical reason that
every building in this town has an unlocked mud room.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgH07oEzK2h2fB9tu5MO1_OF3Mb6xMuL8QPGuntYuAU-1TDgdfc7QrmT10Gorrs3UEfhoO3Pfz0hEqv5MTScV6gMGLOSuLF2XfgV1nXEgSyB5UV4hifPqqwk7ZXItDqSEUI3OCUK-VqD4/s1600/DSCF0823.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgH07oEzK2h2fB9tu5MO1_OF3Mb6xMuL8QPGuntYuAU-1TDgdfc7QrmT10Gorrs3UEfhoO3Pfz0hEqv5MTScV6gMGLOSuLF2XfgV1nXEgSyB5UV4hifPqqwk7ZXItDqSEUI3OCUK-VqD4/s1600/DSCF0823.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Worth it for this photo?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-45805767471024896102015-02-13T22:35:00.001-05:002015-02-14T02:03:45.693-05:00Follow the Red Light<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKA3976SAhHLNWjkaipESzyQ1uawKZyOhPiXqcBnTjTu-oW2RoUxg3aipUBD3pu0YUC9nC7FfZ7Qq3nVwMOFudF09LTuEjzb9XYfwxhbQuHSHHobv7ARMZ7DJ40iP6yZQEG1vNbJqNnVQ/s1600/DSCF0301.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKA3976SAhHLNWjkaipESzyQ1uawKZyOhPiXqcBnTjTu-oW2RoUxg3aipUBD3pu0YUC9nC7FfZ7Qq3nVwMOFudF09LTuEjzb9XYfwxhbQuHSHHobv7ARMZ7DJ40iP6yZQEG1vNbJqNnVQ/s1600/DSCF0301.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ellyn learning how to core</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Follow the red
light. Don't let it get too far away. Ignore any feelings your
other senses might be telling you. I keep repeating this mantra in
my head as we speed along on the snowmobiles. All around me is an
open expanse of flat white; it is a white-out ski day without the
falling snow somehow. I have zero idea of where the horizon is and
can barely even see the ground in front of me. My goggles are icing
up so it is hard to know if the pure whiteness is from my
surroundings or simply ice on the goggles. Probably both. My
fingers are frozen and my right thumb on the throttle aches.
However, I can't stop to adjust as the red light might disappear.
The nice warm hood on my coat flips back and I debate the merits of
using my left hand to grab the hood and hold it in place versus
keeping my hand tucked away to avoid losing all feeling to the
fingers. Every few seconds I'm thrown off the seat as the snowmobile
jumps over another ridge of ice. In case you were wondering, sea ice
is not flat at all. Without being able to see the oncoming bumps, I
imagine riding a bronco must feel quite similar. Behind me, I'm
pulling a huge white wooden sleigh that carries our beloved
ICE-MITTs. Having built them myself, I'm pretty sure any one of
these bumps will totally break all of the tiny electronics or snap
one of the frozen wires. Inside of the ICE-MITT is a perfectly
preserved ice core that I'm trying my hardest not to break. Having
accidentally broken a few with only our hands due to weak layers in
the ice, I have no idea how these bumps aren't destroying the
integrity of the core. Each time, I quickly glance back to make sure
the sled is still attached and the generator is still running.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKbCjnfezZEXg1ZLN4mpUmp2te_iwxsQX2jWufbpQRjnJ1N2zm-FHdxrH09835rDQoSq2HkoQI2wep0pNn6zrwH8cLfs71xQHN3o7lYF1HBSrGoSbFGe0YgSqNQomY27k0TDSt5lhgmY/s1600/DSCF0315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKbCjnfezZEXg1ZLN4mpUmp2te_iwxsQX2jWufbpQRjnJ1N2zm-FHdxrH09835rDQoSq2HkoQI2wep0pNn6zrwH8cLfs71xQHN3o7lYF1HBSrGoSbFGe0YgSqNQomY27k0TDSt5lhgmY/s1600/DSCF0315.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cutting the core to exact ICE-MITT length</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlkVK1gMMzdjDz1HW9pQav4u5zI8Wn3tamakkTevDkPM4VxJQodo_t1CH-3pK7ZJrkWHQYh6Q1nTRAuK9PL0-J3PYNJYP6sDydJSTd8DNjG25pH-hYKG6ddNNceXbKtcgftxvxOXlacA/s1600/DSCF0318.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlkVK1gMMzdjDz1HW9pQav4u5zI8Wn3tamakkTevDkPM4VxJQodo_t1CH-3pK7ZJrkWHQYh6Q1nTRAuK9PL0-J3PYNJYP6sDydJSTd8DNjG25pH-hYKG6ddNNceXbKtcgftxvxOXlacA/s1600/DSCF0318.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And placing into ICE-MITT (very gently)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We take a slight
turn and now the oncoming wind has found a way to the one square inch
below my balaclava. Again, I know I can't stop and readjust because
the red light of the snowmobile in front of me, and my ticket back to
the warm hut, might disappear and I'd be left in this stranded white
abyss not knowing which way to go. I'm pretty sure they would stop
at some point and realize that I was gone, but I'm also fairly
certain that the batteries on my radio have died. Better not to risk
it. The speedometer isn't working on my snowmobile, but even if it
were, I probably wouldn't be able to read it. I don't know what the
windshield is at -30 degrees while driving at 40-50 mph and into a
headwind, but I'm sure it doesn't classify has warm. The true
miracle is that our bear guard knows exactly where he is and leads us
on a direct path back to land. Or at least I think we have hit land
as the snowmobiles lurch over a huge hill and the white ground below
begins to have a dirty gray tint. We continue on for what seems like
forever, and suddenly buildings start to appear. Before I know it,
we are back at our storage facility, quickly unloading the sleigh,
and plugging the ICE-MITT into wall power. I can't really believe my
eyes as the end plates of the ICE-MITT continue to read the same
temperatures we recorded as we pulled the core out. And I'm beat.
<br />
(Note: photos for
this post are from a different day for obvious reasons)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_MWrE8b0P6dwwZNoq4VyFfvYg3XZLoS0xD6faOvy90JYMyFOoR0MQGHln5zUIRaxmLEWsJDMOxPItdxwpAJZQh9z_uR015amPz27SpX9mqCAetuEl2z7nmi1Qwx9eoUSwYG__bkPdEo/s1600/DSCF0487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_MWrE8b0P6dwwZNoq4VyFfvYg3XZLoS0xD6faOvy90JYMyFOoR0MQGHln5zUIRaxmLEWsJDMOxPItdxwpAJZQh9z_uR015amPz27SpX9mqCAetuEl2z7nmi1Qwx9eoUSwYG__bkPdEo/s1600/DSCF0487.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Non-standard coring technique</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-10057552744411735622015-02-09T14:39:00.000-05:002015-02-10T15:55:45.311-05:00Front runner for best day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRoUcog_VT91NGkjaFQUJMOpAVDEEdX3khQUt3TohyANqkye3X3t7kv0Q9UTB8u5-GXgKam1H7B0m6fOueA6zF4kiFySpVCZcaU0q55V9P6vwF9sZ6RdKWOws71AR_Vb5P43gW-QKlEfE/s1600/shot0005.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRoUcog_VT91NGkjaFQUJMOpAVDEEdX3khQUt3TohyANqkye3X3t7kv0Q9UTB8u5-GXgKam1H7B0m6fOueA6zF4kiFySpVCZcaU0q55V9P6vwF9sZ6RdKWOws71AR_Vb5P43gW-QKlEfE/s1600/shot0005.png" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why hello Mr. Polar Bear</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Ok. You can ignore
the last post. It was pretty cool seeing a polar bear 500 feet away
and all. However, how about 3 polar bears. 30 feet from your truck.
Right after you saw the most incredible northern lights display.
The evening you successfully extracted a multi-meter core while
maintaining its temperature profile for the first time in science.
Now that's what I call a good day (and makes me somewhat forget about
all of my friends skiing knee deep powder back east).
<br /><br>
We had all been
feeling pretty tired after a long day in the field (I promise, at
some point I will blog more about the science. However, the “other”
stuff is just so incredible that it is momentarily taking
precedence). Although it was getting pretty late, I wanted to head
back to our storage area to check on the ICE-MITTs and make sure
nothing had melted. As I got into the truck and started driving
over, I thought I saw a flickering light overhead. I knew I was
pretty tired so I tried to ignore it. Perhaps the light was just
fog. The fogginess was growing though and somehow the stars behind
it were still visible. Then I realized, oh damn, that's the Aurora
Borealis. I quickly turned around, woke Rachel and Ellyn up, and we
all drove out to the very point of Barrow and away from any light
pollution.<br /><br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKuQnfO7tS279oJJaNx6-uPAnFSHxAQnVpHlrzki2yebd9lKmJNPvmLPeJFK86PqucwRG13ZxmFPdu50L4fJYwv7thc_1gibD3g_cyw1h6REEtMvET3SJxgWpAQu5Dgy8_7bySZDjGPO0/s1600/IMG_1081_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKuQnfO7tS279oJJaNx6-uPAnFSHxAQnVpHlrzki2yebd9lKmJNPvmLPeJFK86PqucwRG13ZxmFPdu50L4fJYwv7thc_1gibD3g_cyw1h6REEtMvET3SJxgWpAQu5Dgy8_7bySZDjGPO0/s1600/IMG_1081_1.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note: This aurora photo is from my trip in 2011</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If you haven't seen
the aurora before, there really is no way to describe it. It's a
mystical movement of lights, usually green but occasionally other
colors as well, dancing across the sky. Tonight we had long circular
waves of green that transformed into green brush strokes morphing
into dark green linear curtains. Every so often a wisp of pinkish
red would swirl into the painting and vanish moments later. The
details of the science takes away from the beauty. Very briefly
though, the aurora results from electrons and protons entering our
atmosphere and hitting atomic oxygen (as well as occasionally
nitrogen). This results in oxygen being excited and then releasing
that energy in the form of light, usually in the green spectrum, with
the colors dependent upon the height of collision. All of these
interactions are related to the solar wind and the magnetosphere, but
essentially mean that the aurora is found in moving rings around both
the north and south magnetic poles.
<br /><br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOc1cDwM3X1GW3gp57uFN0uh8RpC9QsFfQ9FiO4DLulLW9Q4eMe55d3_K-FMtVoDLrdXyDoHM1rYF0Ld42aPcUgo3_O5ZO_Kd8VGOcTq6TR2iINx3rF__pvhKAE0Mcl0NMbejpV7gp8Xw/s1600/shot0010.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOc1cDwM3X1GW3gp57uFN0uh8RpC9QsFfQ9FiO4DLulLW9Q4eMe55d3_K-FMtVoDLrdXyDoHM1rYF0Ld42aPcUgo3_O5ZO_Kd8VGOcTq6TR2iINx3rF__pvhKAE0Mcl0NMbejpV7gp8Xw/s1600/shot0010.png" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What yummy garbage we have here</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Oh right, the polar
bears. As we were driving back to the hut, we saw 6 trucks in a
semi-circle with their headlights on. After wondering why they would
be watching the aurora with their headlights on, I realized that they
were all focused on 3 polar bears who were raiding the local whale
bone dump. Locals drag the discarded whale carcass out to Point
Barrow after harvesting nearly all parts of the whale, and this is
naturally a favorite hang out spot for local polar bears. We sat and
watched as these polar bears had a feast just 30 feet from the safety
of our truck. Although I think we could have driven away fast
enough, I was feeling slightly concerned every time one of the bears
would try to stare down and intimidate the truck to our right. It
was a very surreal man vs nature encounter that I'm not quite sure
how I feel about it. The bears were quite visibly agitated by the
trucks, but they were encroaching upon human dumpsters. I think the
only part that truly bothered me was when the bears tried to leave,
two of the trucks continued to follow them. Note that this was not
the first time in my life that I have stared at an animal that would
like to devour me if I were to step outside the safety of my vehicle.
This also reminds me to ask how fast the snowmobiles can go before
we head out onto the ice tomorrow.
<br /></div>
ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-76128810871217011792015-02-08T03:43:00.001-05:002015-02-08T03:51:07.166-05:00Polar bears!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnIJ-xRcs7UOZ7CioR6ztwwAZ6Ox-R1vz8BQwh8-0g6cidjzaOQdnzE_wOCX8okaVn61VEG1eJdl3oNOfCs2k7MpdHjf_O_IuNcf6hyphenhyphenqZqb0vWzYOuGDG3RYfohYvYKYsDfVgoe5T7bMM/s1600/DSCF0255.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnIJ-xRcs7UOZ7CioR6ztwwAZ6Ox-R1vz8BQwh8-0g6cidjzaOQdnzE_wOCX8okaVn61VEG1eJdl3oNOfCs2k7MpdHjf_O_IuNcf6hyphenhyphenqZqb0vWzYOuGDG3RYfohYvYKYsDfVgoe5T7bMM/s1600/DSCF0255.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First polar bear sighting!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Today we saw a polar
bear. In the wild. On the sea ice. How many times in your life do
you get to say that? Ok, we did see him from the safety of our
pickup truck and he was far enough away that I don't know if he was a
he or a she (although if we were a bit closer, I'm not sure if I
would have known anyways). Rachel and I had been heading into town
to pick up some supplies when we heard on the radio that a polar bear
had been spotted right outside the shop where we were headed.
Obviously, we sped forward, spotted the bear a few hundred feet
offshore, and started gawking. After 15 minutes, we realized Ellyn
was not in the car (and thankfully not on the ice), but had been left
back at the hut. Not wanting her to miss this opportunity, we
quickly picked her up and returned to find the bear still ambling
along. Mr. P. Bear was simply minding his own business, taking a
leisurely stroll, or perhaps looking for some seals to eat. It was
really the perfect way to encounter a polar bear. Although we have
a bear guard with us at all times on the ice (don't worry mom), I
still think I prefer to have the encounters while inside our truck.
It only troubled us slightly to realize that Mr. Bear was walking in
the exact direction of our field site which we were headed to in
about an hour.
<br /><br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljZiCDkmN0jWahjYNY2FSpaMIGh3ZUn5md6lW6PPAhLavfceKar2lwW14mKKcLHW81AHbGJR_QUzj8pG0Igur4l_iSDOqdDFOxHHD_SPCzSfG4QjRy_AqoLZPPCyKKjyDWf-2tJxzsi0/s1600/IMG_0450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljZiCDkmN0jWahjYNY2FSpaMIGh3ZUn5md6lW6PPAhLavfceKar2lwW14mKKcLHW81AHbGJR_QUzj8pG0Igur4l_iSDOqdDFOxHHD_SPCzSfG4QjRy_AqoLZPPCyKKjyDWf-2tJxzsi0/s1600/IMG_0450.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Read for my Arctic run</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What was more
troubling upon reflection was that our bear encounter was along the
same road I had gone for a run yesterday. Now running in Barrow is
hard enough without the thought of polar bears. However, I had been
tasked with the mission of having perhaps the first tracks on Strava
in the area and I wasn't about to let 50 below zero windshield get in
my way. I stuck some toe warmers into my hiking boots, layered up
with my blue puff jacket, balaclava, and goggles, and braved the
elements. I had been warned by the staff here that polar bears are
often spotted to the north, so it would be best to run to the south.
Once I started running, the temperature and wind weren't too bad (I
actually was overheating a bit). The fog and blowing snow though
made it so visibility was pretty poor. Once the ice started building
up on my goggles though, I could barely see the road beneath my feet
or the occasional car drive by. I only went for about 3 miles, but
was pretty bummed to learn that my phone decided it was done with
this weather after the first 1.4. I think I might have a guess for
why even the locals think I'm crazy here.
<br /><br><br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCGLVNQnl_pQGpvros0vW269oxH6AL8ZtDJUW1YIpR0ZMAryE9wKwsUTms9SCPiA2Ny-ZiY0_PlZPZjQuJykQOAXate78WAi2KG7sE_eDi9mtSZedIoUc-KW081al57LwmSF-2Nv4a5c/s1600/IMG_0452.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCGLVNQnl_pQGpvros0vW269oxH6AL8ZtDJUW1YIpR0ZMAryE9wKwsUTms9SCPiA2Ny-ZiY0_PlZPZjQuJykQOAXate78WAi2KG7sE_eDi9mtSZedIoUc-KW081al57LwmSF-2Nv4a5c/s1600/IMG_0452.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My outfit for going into the field</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This day was off to
a good start already. However, we then successfully extracted an ice
core, maintaining it at the correct temperature, for the first time
in scientific history (more on this in the next blog post). If this
day couldn't get any better, we then had a delicious feast at the
Japanese restaurant, where the Paradise roll was perhaps the largest
roll of sushi I have ever seen. For dessert, Ellyn and I realized
that we both love Ben and Jerry's mint chocolate cookie ice cream,
and to our delight, the grocery store did indeed have it. To top off
this great day, we were hand delivered a case of Alaskan Brewing
Company's Icy Bay IPA (beer is quite a delicacy in a town where they
don't sell alcohol) by the taxi driver Rachel and Ellyn had
befriended in Anchorage and just happened to be on his way to Barrow.
<br><br><br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOD6yQS68uSTwpsdMmZQjc7C-g7h5xXPK6ib-sE8tTCUM82xRmrpLqQHQbQbcSqVUJ7hQbBQlZrvIf0dRZTAugb69BXS6woqEeHmDRDsgOrufvhraCuBqeRjZCBf4lsKmYHkqpXyGyebY/s1600/IMG_0453.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOD6yQS68uSTwpsdMmZQjc7C-g7h5xXPK6ib-sE8tTCUM82xRmrpLqQHQbQbcSqVUJ7hQbBQlZrvIf0dRZTAugb69BXS6woqEeHmDRDsgOrufvhraCuBqeRjZCBf4lsKmYHkqpXyGyebY/s1600/IMG_0453.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Best present to finish off the day</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-32101010423330731152015-02-05T04:03:00.000-05:002015-02-05T04:21:16.143-05:00First core collection, whaling, and native dancing <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx7h7A4NMGk6l9zUGs1TyD2OTWlEGGgDejGYOtgbo33oOl8F7Z1SebwR4wLz4BCuNJQmGNlH-8_x7S__FcKHiuB6UeEj4JzoDL8opGLdmXEz9N-3Wp857EpqDYDHTdadVHrrH36hBrLmc/s1600/DSCF0309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx7h7A4NMGk6l9zUGs1TyD2OTWlEGGgDejGYOtgbo33oOl8F7Z1SebwR4wLz4BCuNJQmGNlH-8_x7S__FcKHiuB6UeEj4JzoDL8opGLdmXEz9N-3Wp857EpqDYDHTdadVHrrH36hBrLmc/s1600/DSCF0309.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drilling our first core with Ellyn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When I first came to the Arctic, Don Perovich had told me, “There is seeing, breathing, and not getting frost bite. You can only pick 2 at any time.”
While that saying still indeed holds true, I have a new one: Choose 2 of the following: staying warm, not having loud noises (i.e. overhead heaters), and having semi-decent internet. Thus, I have found a way to get good enough internet to upload some photos but it involves hanging out in our staging Quonset hut kept just above freezing with very loud overhead heaters. Most of this week has been spent getting the ICE-MITTs up and running, and trying to run the tests that we did not have time to run back in Hanover. Scientifically, the highlight so far has been getting out onto the sea ice on Tuesday and successfully gathering a full core. Although the core broke in half during the bumpy ride home, we showed that it is indeed possible to gather a full 1 meter core with no breaks. The mission had been to gauge sea ice thickness in the region, so we did not bring an ICE-MITT out into the field. This means that the ice core changed in temperature during the snowmobile trip back. Since this core will only be used for testing, we were not too concerned. In the spirit of celebration, last night was cause for a celebratory drink as we successfully created a temperature gradient (and maintained it!) using the ICE-MITT. The fact that it was the wrong temperature gradient from what I asked the ICE-MITT to do is minor details. Apparently our ICE-MITTs have a mind of their own. “You want 5 degrees F, I give you 15 degrees F,” says the ICE-MITT and it was so. Still, it is pretty satisfying having an ice core at 0 degrees F at one end in a room that is 50 degrees F. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHCoo6OGRagSdZPk80I5qCiMV0aBL1wp_9HbVpkX7BW4RePMdojcmeMn1NsgLW5dFK3d1cMuBLgss7V6zZIobt3rfS_HSdlkHWv9_D-cGopelqPjtyyJDSzNxgvFcx9vjJIEhZcAcle1g/s1600/DSCF0311.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHCoo6OGRagSdZPk80I5qCiMV0aBL1wp_9HbVpkX7BW4RePMdojcmeMn1NsgLW5dFK3d1cMuBLgss7V6zZIobt3rfS_HSdlkHWv9_D-cGopelqPjtyyJDSzNxgvFcx9vjJIEhZcAcle1g/s1600/DSCF0311.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loving our first core</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Let's be honest for a minute. Although the science is exciting and pays the bills, it
isn't the sole reason one falls in love with the poles and is
definitely not the reason you are reading this blog. Antarctica was
about the penguins, with the seals being a close second. The verdict
is still out for this year's trip to the Arctic, but so far the
people and culture is taking a strong lead. This week Barrow is
hosting the international whaling community for the annual meeting of
the International Whaling Commission (IWC). It involves many Inuit
whalers from communities all across Alaska, Canada, and even whalers
from Russia. Tuesday night the local community hosted a potluck
complete with native dancing. Consistent with the friendliness of
the town, we were invited to join. Still riding the high of the
Patriots win (<i>editor side note: high probability the Patriots will
be mentioned in nearly every blog post over the next few weeks</i>),
I immediately was drawn to a whaler wearing a Red Sox hat and had to
ask him about it. It turns out that Keith is from the Makah tribe in
Washington (one of the few people here from the lower 48) and he just
happened to catch a Mariners/Red Sox game one year. Only after we
sat down for dinner together did he show me that he had a Seahawks
jacket on underneath. His tribe has a 2,000 year old cultural and
spiritual connection to whaling, hunting gray whales for sustenance,
clothing, handicrafts, etc. From 1920 to the 1990s however, the
Makah had to stop, as commercial whaling put the gray whale on the
Endangered Species Act and the Makah began to lose their traditional
knowledge. With the gray whale population recovering in the 1990s,
the Makah started whaling again, but have been held up in legal
battles with animal activist since 1999 despite having a treaty with
the USA signed in 1855 granting them rights to the sea and the
support of the IWC. Keith explained to us some of the other current
challenges and struggles of the whaling community, as we dined on
whale (both boiled and frozen raw), seafood, turkey, and soup from
caribou. After the 2 hour feast, we were treated to hours of
traditional dancing by the local Barrow community. I am most
impressed with the respect and honor that the community shows to the
elders, evident in all aspects of life in Barrow (even on comments I
heard on the radio today).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4fOZQtIwJaD1lZUzWkSUt2eXxWYn_HtbOCk8cX5VYg12TYNMhNKt-XR1q5NXWouJxSzRxB9zjLRnClL04cxYMJyPGPrCXwdM8qe_sdWfDWOeJj8xMvbpcCuEa7vldN-7TzDvrUBZv-1Y/s1600/DSCF0319.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4fOZQtIwJaD1lZUzWkSUt2eXxWYn_HtbOCk8cX5VYg12TYNMhNKt-XR1q5NXWouJxSzRxB9zjLRnClL04cxYMJyPGPrCXwdM8qe_sdWfDWOeJj8xMvbpcCuEa7vldN-7TzDvrUBZv-1Y/s1600/DSCF0319.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner with Keith and the International Whaling Commission</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I have been hearing
that it is pretty cold back in Vermont this week. Rumor has it that
windshields even brought temperatures down to -21 degrees F. I was
about to have a lot of sympathy for everyone back home, but then I
looked at the temperature outside. Today was -29 degrees F, without
windshield. Tomorrow we have decided not to head out onto the ice as
windshields are supposed to be 50 below zero. The cutoff for work is
generally about -40. We also don't have the 2-3 feet of fresh powder
New Englanders are currently enjoying right now. An aurora viewing
one of these upcoming nights though would make me temporarily forget
about that.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDN4Eulzae7jCkgGeUfsru74uq2mMn9C7VpaM6101OCCXYNMOPS-ZUpGFGe-p4b6ANPOpqcM6LnN2oIEk2vqhr7Je7RodqcCSW6A9_yNLcMowZKt4EmEWyf5EtGJB5khndBVN61e9XKzU/s1600/DSCF0338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDN4Eulzae7jCkgGeUfsru74uq2mMn9C7VpaM6101OCCXYNMOPS-ZUpGFGe-p4b6ANPOpqcM6LnN2oIEk2vqhr7Je7RodqcCSW6A9_yNLcMowZKt4EmEWyf5EtGJB5khndBVN61e9XKzU/s1600/DSCF0338.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Native dancing after dinner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-35472682924130442862015-02-02T03:13:00.000-05:002015-02-05T04:25:25.434-05:00Superbowl in Barrow<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfeAY5D8qgmPMkYXuEthQryvcsgP35KhcZkFmMZdxX_reS53YmOi1Efdavq4twGqOjTTiiH2C-OrzdD8I5hySaNPC6OgiQtDk6HJsPjxvHNcEXeeMiu554r1GaZ-FslbdVBMC9z0eURmY/s1600/IMG_0409.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfeAY5D8qgmPMkYXuEthQryvcsgP35KhcZkFmMZdxX_reS53YmOi1Efdavq4twGqOjTTiiH2C-OrzdD8I5hySaNPC6OgiQtDk6HJsPjxvHNcEXeeMiu554r1GaZ-FslbdVBMC9z0eURmY/s1600/IMG_0409.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arriving to Barrow</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
“And to the right
of the plane, you can see the northern lights,” the pilot alerts us
on the BOS-SEA flight. What a great start to the ICE-MITT field
campaign it has been so far: seeing the northern lights on our first flight,
Patriots winning one of the best Superbowls in recent years, and all
of the ICE-MITTs shipping successfully. It all makes me almost
forget the fact that our toolbag got lost in Seattle and our blowing
snow catching tower is lost in Anchorage. It feels good to be back in Barrow, staying in the same hut I was in 3 years ago.
<br /><br><br><br><br><br><br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWn-tnzc11gzp6skvw713SXD_NEh8gnNAKho3MzxIQycQ4oOJs2rNR3Cz0E7eutIWQ9_9RjuSDK_n_dt-GxK5nz2fd9XCcvZV9HEuiM7KmY4RwJejuFY3w7fU9W9MHCCeDiNHw9ohEIG0/s1600/IMG_0404.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWn-tnzc11gzp6skvw713SXD_NEh8gnNAKho3MzxIQycQ4oOJs2rNR3Cz0E7eutIWQ9_9RjuSDK_n_dt-GxK5nz2fd9XCcvZV9HEuiM7KmY4RwJejuFY3w7fU9W9MHCCeDiNHw9ohEIG0/s1600/IMG_0404.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bags are packed, ready to go</td></tr>
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After enduring a whole bunch of heckling during the flights to and from Seattle (perhaps because I chose to proudly rock my Patriots shirt), I took a quick nap in Anchorage and jumped on the earlier flight to Barrow in time to watch the game. Rachel and Ellyn elected for the full night sleep, tour of Anchorage, and the later flight to Barrow. While here, we stay just outside of Barrow at the old Naval base (NARL), which is also home to the local college (Ilisagvik) and my access to a TV. Forest, a student at the college, is my new best friend since he called that the Seahawks would through a pass and interception rather than run it on the final key play. At some point, a random person came by and delivered a platter of wings, jalapeño poppers, mozzarella sticks, and fresh fruit. All in all, despite being the only Pats fan in town, watching the Superbowl in Barrow turned out to be a huge success.
A couple of notes about Barrow:
- The internet is reaallyy slooooowwww. Unfortunately I think this means that I'm going to have a real hard time uploading any photos to this blog. (<i>editors note: photos added later)</i>
- Prices for goods, especially food, are hilarious. I bought a box of wheat thins and a small thing of hummus today for $16. Decided to skip on a box of cheerios for breakfast at $9/box.
- It's a bit cold here at times (Wednesday's high is supposed to be -22) so vehicles are either kept running or you plug them in when you are not using them.
- Internet is really slow, so I need to end this post now or it won't upload.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKXTe1arANjOftUKyAD0MHUBmJQvO70VdytMPMPLCrM_foZcu0BtHJXTk_dgS9P0Ob2ZNUTIXcoVhxB_bn0_a24gFux7CzNj2O0UaH-icZILK-CTYsEanLngyUYbCuwEqUEulRbWW5ks/s1600/IMG_0405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKXTe1arANjOftUKyAD0MHUBmJQvO70VdytMPMPLCrM_foZcu0BtHJXTk_dgS9P0Ob2ZNUTIXcoVhxB_bn0_a24gFux7CzNj2O0UaH-icZILK-CTYsEanLngyUYbCuwEqUEulRbWW5ks/s1600/IMG_0405.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Refueling in Deadhorse</td></tr>
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ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-71287669568629977262015-01-21T15:26:00.002-05:002015-01-21T15:26:20.768-05:00Here we go again!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL9t9gO0zx_8YzZlD6Yw-MDFb3rlxIsbUS5RhlzL2eysPPc4QtuyIy_krftlCoupN0DchSqT7cXnIwZqnu3e0edbpkAIlGdms9E9GSUz-TiYEl4r1HHBev8RBMDuZUTfTfdLp_LHql7IQ/s1600/ICE-MITT_final.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL9t9gO0zx_8YzZlD6Yw-MDFb3rlxIsbUS5RhlzL2eysPPc4QtuyIy_krftlCoupN0DchSqT7cXnIwZqnu3e0edbpkAIlGdms9E9GSUz-TiYEl4r1HHBev8RBMDuZUTfTfdLp_LHql7IQ/s1600/ICE-MITT_final.png" width="320" /></a> Welcome back readers. After a 2-year hiatus, my feet are itching to get back to the ice. I have been rewarded with a 2 month campaign to Barrow, Alaska, as part of the ICE-MITT project. I know most of you are here for the incredible polar pictures (sorry, no penguins in the Arctic and if I see a polar bear, I will NOT be stopping to take its photo). Stories and photos of the lab prep work ahead of time may not be as exciting as the aurora borealis, but I thought I would share a small taste and a bit about the upcoming campaign. The goal of this project is to collect sea ice cores and analyze the microstructure to determine how brine channels (the salt water pathways that weave through the ice) vary both spatially and over time. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvMqVhEwZoq3KJWET_izZR2g77gbUXFgIHayQAjUprZ0eTDUYpshSQ_OzCkCLDuu86e4qLSMT6ftx1Lm3VQQ0VNrXHjofe5EDDe0qPwFoCipQ2xFekRHnyBCrn0hCk0i0Cw_DRaqJ-Sy0/s1600/IMG_0246.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvMqVhEwZoq3KJWET_izZR2g77gbUXFgIHayQAjUprZ0eTDUYpshSQ_OzCkCLDuu86e4qLSMT6ftx1Lm3VQQ0VNrXHjofe5EDDe0qPwFoCipQ2xFekRHnyBCrn0hCk0i0Cw_DRaqJ-Sy0/s1600/IMG_0246.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anna working in the ICE-MITT factory</td></tr>
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What is an ICE-MITT you may ask? If you recall from my previous expeditions, collecting and then analyzing sea ice is not the easiest task in the world. First, you need to actually find sea ice. This means heading either to Antarctica or the Arctic. You will be needing lots of clothing, food, and money, and will not want to skimp on any of these. Next you will need an ice corer to actually extract a core of ice. You are still not finished yet though, since you still need to get your ice back to the lab for analysis. Herein lies the major problem. The structure of ice changes with temperature and your ice core is not all at the same temperature. The bottom is really warm since it is in contact with the ocean (roughly 30 °F) and the top is really cold since it is in contact with the air (perhaps -20 °F). During my previous expeditions, we simply put the ice cores in a well-insulated box with cold freezer packs, shipped, and hoped for the best (Note: dry ice and liquid nitrogen techniques have also been used but they adversely damage the sea ice structure). The ICE-MITT (Ice Core Extraction while Maintaining In-situ Temperature Transitions... nice acronym, eh?) attempts to solve this problem. An ice core is placed inside the ICE-MITT and it will keep the ice core at whatever temperature you want.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlV6qLh5MDFdV3EIVZkrbTlgLtDjB7-mAwCYxoS9qMydvmdXOG5Y90XzJNkfPcXvRphOmohg5Bg6hyRwbh7XN92az_C_sg2s-qCAxLiI1md7LNZk0teYPtQzSy5TKgRb4sreNE7CB9IU/s1600/SuperGunnar+lo+res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlV6qLh5MDFdV3EIVZkrbTlgLtDjB7-mAwCYxoS9qMydvmdXOG5Y90XzJNkfPcXvRphOmohg5Bg6hyRwbh7XN92az_C_sg2s-qCAxLiI1md7LNZk0teYPtQzSy5TKgRb4sreNE7CB9IU/s1600/SuperGunnar+lo+res.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gunnar working on the ICE-MITT</td></tr>
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Seems like magic? At first it seemed impossible to me as well. Thankfully I happen to be at an engineering school with some really smart people. It has taken over 2 years to transform this project from a crazy late night conversation with Rachel into reality. I could spend the rest of this entry trying to thank everyone who helped along the way but I would still end up accidentally forgetting someone. Two undergraduate engineering classes helped create and model the basic idea/design of the system. However, it was largely the magical hands of Gunnar Pope that turned the ICE-MITT into a real functioning system. After about 6 months he had the prototype mostly working. This left me about 4 months to replicate the design and build 9 more units. At first this seemed daunting but doable. Then as I started working, I realized a single ICE-MITT consists of 851 different pieces, countless solder joints (I had never soldered a single thing in my life prior to this project), and perhaps 150 hours of work (+/- a lot... truthfully I have no idea how many hours it takes except that it has consumed my life for the last 4 months). Suddenly this project was beginning to look impossible. Once again we reached to the incredible resource of Thayer undergraduates, and with the help of Anna and George, we pulled off the impossible. The day before the fall term ended, we had mostly built all 10 ICE-MITTs. All that remained was turning them on...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoH0UvVie8W1W1wKeQQ3VqDjBI1vWq_LeqwbB6UpqTnIRoU_Ch0MtG3xzgfdhHCCIX_GcOzuQQlfmI5redVhIlt8RJTdBvSNRBhyMWD5OF8UWjdujEhsVWiQro_5Bls_YxI0nJafNNAdo/s1600/IMG_0332.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoH0UvVie8W1W1wKeQQ3VqDjBI1vWq_LeqwbB6UpqTnIRoU_Ch0MtG3xzgfdhHCCIX_GcOzuQQlfmI5redVhIlt8RJTdBvSNRBhyMWD5OF8UWjdujEhsVWiQro_5Bls_YxI0nJafNNAdo/s1600/IMG_0332.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finishing the To-Do List</td></tr>
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The lights went on, the electronics worked, fans started, but the plates that are meant to keep the ice cold would not get cold. As Gunnar had foretold, there is essentially 0% chance that a project of this scope will work on the first try. It is actually remarkable so much did in fact work. However, hours before heading to a conference in San Fran, we were able to identify the issue and I knew what had to be done upon getting back. I had a clear end date of Jan 15 for shipping to ensure everything would arrive safely in Barrow. After returning home Christmas day and powering through some long days (with some help from friends... thanks Karl, Alden, and Steph!), I am happy to report that everything was finished with a few hours to spare. Continuing the good news, we just received email confirmation that all 10 ICE-MITTs have safely arrived in Barrow, AK, and are awaiting our arrival. All that remains now is to hope that the ICE-MITTs are indeed good enough to maintain our ice cores at the correct temperatures while we are in Barrow, during the road trip home, and while back at Dartmouth. <br />
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Did I hear road trip? Yes, indeed! The ICE-MITTs need to be plugged in to work and are an active cooling system (air fans remove heat from thermoelectric modules). By our best estimates, they can be unplugged for up to 2 hours without significantly changing the ice temperature. Since we can't fly on a plane with such a system, we have decided to buy a trailer, generator, and road trip it home. There will be much more on this subject later, but you can follow along on this incredible 5,000 mile road trip of ICE-MITT: The Tour coming this March both at this blog and our group's blog (<a href="http://www.theicemittproject.wordpress.com/">www.theicemittproject.wordpress.com</a>). <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhwv-c0l1l34mr_nq8bTO-2wOTqKFh6sN2qeAzwcuYww8YJTaM3k-ZgdJAesqwZR-TqcOfvwRpGli1spodOkPrcfWkUEig9bU8teuLMcrIMyUuHUMvRGfH4NCjlaI8LJFXmu8CWMTE9o/s1600/PB100870.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhwv-c0l1l34mr_nq8bTO-2wOTqKFh6sN2qeAzwcuYww8YJTaM3k-ZgdJAesqwZR-TqcOfvwRpGli1spodOkPrcfWkUEig9bU8teuLMcrIMyUuHUMvRGfH4NCjlaI8LJFXmu8CWMTE9o/s320/PB100870.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dudes...? ahhh! Headless penguins are after me!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Sadly that dreaded day has arrived when I must say goodbye to this incredible continent 3,712 photos, 6 weeks, and a lifetime worth of memories later. This will be my final post from Antarctica as our flight leaves in about an hour. The last few days have been bittersweet taking down our equipment from the field, packing it all up, and saying goodbye to some wonderful people. I wish them all a fabulous rest of the season. <br />
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Yesterday we were sure to make our final full day down here epic as we returned to the sea ice edge via snowmobile to collect some final samples. We were not disappointed as we saw emperor penguins, adelie penguins, seals, the sea ice edge, and the ice cave once again. As I wrap up my thoughts, I'll include a few photos from the trip (you have to come visit me back in VT if you would like the rest). I think I will conclude with a few lessons I learned from Antarctica: <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHzRgcufyf5YYjxkq5rxZgdbo78rq92AHSryqGc-NDrn6_Ei6bntnxWH7XgOnfnP9r9eIJtrkNDa466Snc7aD3f3P3ali3Da6Xbi43GoFwrPl2YxsL3Da2xewumqXrKEIOuZz4idiFnlI/s1600/P1000982.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHzRgcufyf5YYjxkq5rxZgdbo78rq92AHSryqGc-NDrn6_Ei6bntnxWH7XgOnfnP9r9eIJtrkNDa466Snc7aD3f3P3ali3Da6Xbi43GoFwrPl2YxsL3Da2xewumqXrKEIOuZz4idiFnlI/s320/P1000982.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our geyser created a swimming pool!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
- <b>Weather dictates everything</b> <b>in the poles</b>: when do you go, where do you go, what do you do, how do you do it, etc. Despite valiant efforts, forecasts down here make those back home seem precise. <br />
- <b>Antarctica is perhaps the most majestic, gorgeous, breathtaking, (fill in the blank with your favorite adjective) continent. </b><br />
- <b>Penguins are ridiculous creatures</b>. Emperors are incredibly curious, while God forgot to teach Adelies how to walk. <br />
- <b>Human ingenuity is unbelievable</b>. I don't think Shackleton,
Scott, or Amundsen would have ever considered it a possibility that
humans would establish a permanent base on this continent.<br />
- <b>Antarctic is not a harsh continent</b>. When it comes to temperature, wind chill, and just plain misery, I was expecting much worse. The coldest temps I've witnessed is still in Barrow. Often good old VT suffers temperatures colder than the average day I experienced here.<br />- <b>Antarctic is a harsh continent</b>. Conditions can change in a blink of an eye. Before you know it, visibility can drop to nothing. Someday I hope to be back for winter to experience the real extreme weather.<br />
- <b>24 hours of daylight is a strange phenomenon. </b>I had forgotten to mention that we crossed that threshold at the end of October. The weather report here always lists time of sunset. Next one here is Feb 23.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ089IVFtGVtIwbpzhNu2GjYOdIcrt-ggOQwWbS30icfzaaP_sLZeYHSD6Gd3qI1sK7lCXnBkG97FcwTTiGy6MPvzVSSWsFyf881aBTMAX7xRcrdiRHlr1hSlK1o5VIijFuv2S9H6YSfM/s1600/NAH_3210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ089IVFtGVtIwbpzhNu2GjYOdIcrt-ggOQwWbS30icfzaaP_sLZeYHSD6Gd3qI1sK7lCXnBkG97FcwTTiGy6MPvzVSSWsFyf881aBTMAX7xRcrdiRHlr1hSlK1o5VIijFuv2S9H6YSfM/s320/NAH_3210.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can we join your penguin line?</td></tr>
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- <b>The crew down here is incredible</b>. I don't think I will ever experience a place where there are 900 people supporting 140 scientists. In only a few weeks, I made some really great friends with whom I will hopefully reconnect on another campaign in the near future.<br />
- <b>It is possible to run out of positive adjectives/descriptors</b>.<br />
- <b>Land is for sissies.</b> - Rachel<br />
-<b> Commuting by helicopter to work is not too shabby...</b> provided the weather cooperates. <br />
- <b>I need to find a way to come back here</b>.<br />
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Finally, thank you all for following this blog. I never thought I would be able to pull this together nor have over 2,000 hits. Although I have completely fallen behind on photos, it has been a good way to keep up and reflect. There are many more tales that I didn't have the time to get online, so please come visit me in VT for the full stories. <br />
<br />
Until my next polar adventure.... <br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkmzXYAyL4h04-562Pe31twz5jFM6pIQY6DtEjZUDGmNh4LkD_ZrOlL8cfFFbxjmh4JDvt4R1XHdqKKeMzvIS3yRBBsd7zuIZZM-mbO0olPxGW86l1HMual7YZRse7xG1Jqz27jvKwugs/s1600/NAH_3137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkmzXYAyL4h04-562Pe31twz5jFM6pIQY6DtEjZUDGmNh4LkD_ZrOlL8cfFFbxjmh4JDvt4R1XHdqKKeMzvIS3yRBBsd7zuIZZM-mbO0olPxGW86l1HMual7YZRse7xG1Jqz27jvKwugs/s320/NAH_3137.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-2300172419141561752012-11-07T07:31:00.002-05:002012-11-11T19:57:51.932-05:00"You've been here too long"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9fyQJrxHqasc0SobUmt6RwvM1IgkUXI0P6p_s_YhXDOgw53eFj8EU0ANRC5ZhcC0IFcLd8l90gUaTNxRqc0rRzkaWqkh5veWVGEwkg-7UNnPiGxTOZ_1f-d-SUZli2dwCRIxEH2jB_wU/s1600/NAH_2841.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9fyQJrxHqasc0SobUmt6RwvM1IgkUXI0P6p_s_YhXDOgw53eFj8EU0ANRC5ZhcC0IFcLd8l90gUaTNxRqc0rRzkaWqkh5veWVGEwkg-7UNnPiGxTOZ_1f-d-SUZli2dwCRIxEH2jB_wU/s320/NAH_2841.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Please don't make me leave</td></tr>
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Everyday now it seems more and more people are poring into McMurdo. With most of the crew already on station, the new folks are generally scientists who had waited for warmer weather. You can tell who these newbies are because they are the ones bundled up as if hell actually did freeze over. I was on the way to the gym wearing simply shorts and a down jacket, when I heard one of these Michelin men shout at me, "You've been here too long." Personally, I thought the day was quite nice with temps around 8 degrees and a windchill of -9 F. They'll learn soon enough... I can't believe the end to this dream is so close. Monday (only a few days away!) is the scheduled leaving day, weather permitting. Most of station has now joined in the joke regarding weather and our research. We'll sit around at a meal complaining about the weather, when I realize I'm the only one wanting windier conditions. With sunshine here day after day, people have started simply mocking us as we pass by. They might wish, "Hope the weather's awful tomorrow," but their sarcasm is not well hidden. With our luck, it is no surprise that the next big storm is forecasted for Sun/Mon.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7yeCDLnqmsPtKJXCIoPD8n0C2sf3PvqOobIS1zPBiywGVCUWL-XYuiw_0c3LQO1l7Vvv5RS06iLGrVop1aniPUycTCSDryWY9vQ2NmJSYALoxc0jN28k5hyWN3s91KwedElW5_vPseS4/s1600/PB060765.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7yeCDLnqmsPtKJXCIoPD8n0C2sf3PvqOobIS1zPBiywGVCUWL-XYuiw_0c3LQO1l7Vvv5RS06iLGrVop1aniPUycTCSDryWY9vQ2NmJSYALoxc0jN28k5hyWN3s91KwedElW5_vPseS4/s320/PB060765.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7guYSqEpgP2Jxxn5BJ9cfQMYWAWqUvYZhZTZGJOPBotYGVxrJZWsI_2rTqZCwEVtYbbrUwEMQHeBC538yPTLn7jYLDFJchBMjboPT4w94l8hEQtyYbGRMHRYNyXdc3KH0MSVVrc_5rdg/s1600/PB060768.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7guYSqEpgP2Jxxn5BJ9cfQMYWAWqUvYZhZTZGJOPBotYGVxrJZWsI_2rTqZCwEVtYbbrUwEMQHeBC538yPTLn7jYLDFJchBMjboPT4w94l8hEQtyYbGRMHRYNyXdc3KH0MSVVrc_5rdg/s320/PB060768.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artifacts inside Scott's Hut</td></tr>
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A few night ago, I had the sweet opportunity to go inside Discovery Hut build
by Robert Scott in 1902, located right near McMurdo. This is the
original hut that Scott's expedition built and used, and contains many
artifacts (even seal blubber!) from earlier expeditions. The Antarctic
Heritage Trust preserves this and several other huts from
Scott/Shackleton through the Antarctic Treaty. <br />
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Monday we took two marine biologists with us as we retrieved two ice cores relatively close to Scott Base. Kendra and Heather are planning on taking their own ice cores shortly, and were looking to gain some experience with us. The sites were chosen to coincide with where the German Zealanders have been measuring atmospheric gases near their base. The first core was pretty uneventful, and Kendra/Heather probably thought we actually knew what we were doing. It didn't take us long though to erase that illusion. Within the next hour, we had a broken drill, bent flights (extension poles for the corer), frozen and stuck connection pieces, flipped a snowmobile, and created a geyser/swimming pool. The first three are pretty standard as it is a constant fight trying to use a Kovacs corer in the cold with a badger drill, the fourth is my own stupidity when I tried to exchange the drill, and the last was friekin awesome. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxKqDl_qPGD5geQyAunvm_UDYb109JRJ82VoEJDrwA-aVygXBaHnFqz6JwCXTt91XX6gbqAA5NusnO9B446Z5czos1zUWE2P_bl-JESdpXX-W-d2KCooXOykD71qeoE1N1bQFGMB-QVI/s1600/PB060782.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxKqDl_qPGD5geQyAunvm_UDYb109JRJ82VoEJDrwA-aVygXBaHnFqz6JwCXTt91XX6gbqAA5NusnO9B446Z5czos1zUWE2P_bl-JESdpXX-W-d2KCooXOykD71qeoE1N1bQFGMB-QVI/s320/PB060782.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penguins up close and personal</td></tr>
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The site for the 2nd core was on multi-year ice (ice that does not melt out during the summer), our first time not on first-year sea ice. One of the downsides of coring multi-year ice is that there is a quite a bit of snow on top, on the order of 4-5 feet. While I returned the frozen drill, Rachel and the marine biologists shovelled away down to the sea ice, creating a nice little playpen for us to work. When I returned with a warm working drill, everyone was excited to take a break from hand-coring. We made it through most of the way, when it started to feel like the corer was getting stuck. Wanting to avoid a mistake from earlier in the season, we decided to core the rest of the way by hand. Knowing that the ice would be a little thicker here and having a 4 ft bank to stand on, we added a 2nd flight to the corer. I happened to be the one coring when I punched through to the ocean and, per usual, quickly extracted the core barrel. However, we were all greeted by a geyser of ocean water through our coring hole that quickly filled the playpen we had shovelled out. Excellent, we now had our very own swimming pool! The reasoning is that the weight of the snow pushes down the sea ice such that it is below sea level. Still, despite all odds, we had successfully retrieved our 8th and final sea ice core.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA3sm6JWh0wr5iuTdtlT_Sd5eFvQJiQky00kXX-kshHwWtlZ-5CNG31R1_VZ-Gq9DdjdJUtZdDyeWBQLY_X3Ss1qEf4Zqi7_qELFKuCcmEa4-ZoQK9nvNEyNFLZ8jt_K9Dr5iFTizlDSw/s1600/PB060790.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA3sm6JWh0wr5iuTdtlT_Sd5eFvQJiQky00kXX-kshHwWtlZ-5CNG31R1_VZ-Gq9DdjdJUtZdDyeWBQLY_X3Ss1qEf4Zqi7_qELFKuCcmEa4-ZoQK9nvNEyNFLZ8jt_K9Dr5iFTizlDSw/s320/PB060790.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We must know what this flying creature is</td></tr>
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We returned back to McMurdo, completely exhausted, the norm after a full day of fighting the corer, pulling on/off connections, and drilling. However, somehow word has gotten out that I'm a skate skier (complete fallacy since I've only been 3 times). Next thing I know though, one of the mountaineers here, who used to ski race, had dragged me out for an evening ski. We made it over to Scott Base and back in under an hour, when last time the one-way version had taken me 1.5 hours. Trial by fire one might say. At least I no longer feel like a duck out of water, and even did a halfway decent job of keeping up. We might it back just in time for Monday basketball. Needless to say, I crashed pretty hard that evening.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3QJf36FNiEnE6vFKtOvU2EsdLDAw8ATVLYX5IJdD7OHU8HCk3LXfhQANthyuvEScoUz4POxNs8Jp-gOWYnsMewV2GtGm4UlnLAxeE3QcQCKj6dOL8coJIvzhw1tsuqMoooZR09wGvpjI/s1600/PB060797.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3QJf36FNiEnE6vFKtOvU2EsdLDAw8ATVLYX5IJdD7OHU8HCk3LXfhQANthyuvEScoUz4POxNs8Jp-gOWYnsMewV2GtGm4UlnLAxeE3QcQCKj6dOL8coJIvzhw1tsuqMoooZR09wGvpjI/s320/PB060797.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">10,000 penguins in front of a glacier. WOW!</td></tr>
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Yesterday was a pretty sweet day as we returned to Cape Bird to disassemble our mini-tower. Last time it turns out that we had somehow missed the 10,000+ penguins, whose rookery is located on the other side of the hill. To think I had been so stoked with the couple of penguins I had seen on my birthday.... We still had the few daring ones who came right up to our tower to supervise our work. However, we then climbed the hill (for the "sole" purpose of helping Lars/Tom move batteries) and witnessed one of the most remarkable scenes imaginable. An uncountable number of penguins were scattered across a vast rocky landscape with a backdrop of a large glacier reaching out to the sea ice below. I don't think I actually have the words to describe the scene, so I think might just go to bed with that image freshly imprinted in my mind.ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-61165336897580363202012-11-05T05:49:00.001-05:002012-11-05T05:49:22.494-05:00Snowmobile Adventures<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBEvstDp7Fa6ulyEVHl17tUTi2uN0SBCyj2cEA_6h5YNdf0SZPxVQ6M78CrsQBFsQIRHSiQTJ2fUC5Bos5kS4XezcFvTuQnNHDuKnHejjAVkp27AVVoER4vS9KOvYaSxb8V_HjME2_Hao/s1600/PB020731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBEvstDp7Fa6ulyEVHl17tUTi2uN0SBCyj2cEA_6h5YNdf0SZPxVQ6M78CrsQBFsQIRHSiQTJ2fUC5Bos5kS4XezcFvTuQnNHDuKnHejjAVkp27AVVoER4vS9KOvYaSxb8V_HjME2_Hao/s320/PB020731.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snowmobiling out on the Ross Sea</td></tr>
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In addition to our 2 main snow catching locations, we are also taking sea ice cores and snow samples from a transect leading right up to the sea ice edge. We are interested in seeing how the snow and ice chemistry changes moving closer to the Ice Shelf. Since these locations are closer to McMurdo, our mode of transportation is snowmobiling. Our first day out, I was psyched that our moralee was my friend Travis who works at the science lab on station. Since this was a last minute trip, the moralee request went directly to the science lab workers, rather than all of station. Travis only has the chance for one morale trip all season (and can somewhat choose when he goes), so we felt honoured that he wanted to join us. Seeing as the plan called for going right near the ice edge, there was high probability for penguin sightings (the real reason he probably wanted to come).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIwAra244o4mD-3x2s7YVWdyOTaIYkx5s2pMz1NpwRpFtCANPIqXB6KTTqrBYunBiuPOC0OXVgxiF423VGwXyUxkUVgKKkPk8X1YxTWdimtJAbI5Dp67f7t7LRNHe5XRnvbhBO9-y_b5k/s1600/DSCF1128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIwAra244o4mD-3x2s7YVWdyOTaIYkx5s2pMz1NpwRpFtCANPIqXB6KTTqrBYunBiuPOC0OXVgxiF423VGwXyUxkUVgKKkPk8X1YxTWdimtJAbI5Dp67f7t7LRNHe5XRnvbhBO9-y_b5k/s320/DSCF1128.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frost flowers at the sea ice edge</td></tr>
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Our first site was right near the sea ice edge, which also meant that we had some incredible views of freshly formed ice. Since we generally pass the edge every time we fly on the helos, we have been monitoring the changes to the edge over the last month. We had known that there had been some recent sea ice growth, and were psyched to see meteorological conditions had been ideal for forming "frost flowers." Frost flowers are small crystals (a few inches) that form when a crack in the sea ice refreezes, with very cold air temperatures and little wind. As these flowers are incredibly salty, it was originally believe that they were the main contributor to the bromine explosion and ozone depletion events. However, Rachel spent a good amount of her postdoc discovering that frost flowers are actually not the main driver for the transport of bromide, and thus we are examining blowing snow. The other general attraction usually at the ice edge is penguins, but they all must have been playing hide and go seek. WTF? This was the ideal location to see them, and we had sold this trip to Travis with that in mind. After a valiant search effort, we had to admit defeat in our wildlife hunt. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL5Run-M-rXaqeNi4SLfngU5BGrFtmKgVTh3BAtz0wkm_WKHqxEFJnXeMsWX4vjW4_NdS9hcWpt-nNxsnWSu2Y96CdEKgmejYWSlvTWFIj0kRdNHWCR4lpm4ugSzTvXDmmEBSHU3l09Os/s1600/DSCF1144.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL5Run-M-rXaqeNi4SLfngU5BGrFtmKgVTh3BAtz0wkm_WKHqxEFJnXeMsWX4vjW4_NdS9hcWpt-nNxsnWSu2Y96CdEKgmejYWSlvTWFIj0kRdNHWCR4lpm4ugSzTvXDmmEBSHU3l09Os/s320/DSCF1144.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emperor penguin on a mission</td></tr>
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Retrieving the ice core was thankfully pretty uneventful (we are becoming old hands at this). The only "fun" part was that we were unable to start the drill, so we cored it by hand (as I said earlier, it was great having Travis there). Each core is usually its own adventure, as all of the fittings freeze up and become impossible to separate. After much trial and error, we have found screw drivers to be an invaluable tool for lining up holes and separating tubes. With the winds starting to pick up and temperatures falling, we decided to take only one sea ice core, five ice thickness measurements/surface snow collection, and return back to the warmth of a wood stove, hot cider, and log cabin (minus the stove, cider and cabin of course). Lo and behold, within spitting distance of McMurdo, we saw a lone Emperor penguin B-lining it southwards across the ice. Alas, Travis got to see his penguin! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhZabrQaA7a7q3M-DWorxf64YROYEB1vJUZXtf4dp9qPOpenLsh2PTh0BC9t-gcMiKKIsD9bJXX2zuSeMsQTSSw91ni6NywC_wxg6YXOdWttKA4A6UI2NGEqQu-hL-y8G_lcirqj7hqPM/s1600/DSCF1256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhZabrQaA7a7q3M-DWorxf64YROYEB1vJUZXtf4dp9qPOpenLsh2PTh0BC9t-gcMiKKIsD9bJXX2zuSeMsQTSSw91ni6NywC_wxg6YXOdWttKA4A6UI2NGEqQu-hL-y8G_lcirqj7hqPM/s320/DSCF1256.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside an ice cave</td></tr>
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We continued the transect on Saturday with a moralee by the name of Kish. Once again though, the weather Gods wanted to test us, providing pretty chilly temps and the strongest winds we have measured while in the field at 30 mph (remember: we haven't been able to get out on the windiest days since we generally travel by helo). This all adds up to wind chills in the -40 neighborhood: perfect for a fun day in the field. Although our trip was a walk in the park in comparison, I couldn't help but think of Shackleton and his boat journey as we ventured off onto the ice (of course, Shackleton was in a beat-up 22-ft life-boat after having sunk his ship and been stranded for over a year on the ice, and we on fancy snowmobiles). Still, we had our fearless leader Shackleton (Rachel), the navigator Worsley (me), and the carpenter McNish (Kish). Rachel drove the lead sled with me as passenger and sled in tow, while Kish followed in a second machine. My job was to navigate to our predetermined field sites with the GPS (another fancy tool Worsley didn't have) with frozen fingers and batteries that only worked for seconds at a time. Adding to the challenge was avoiding being tossed from the snowmobile, using only my knees to hold on, as Rachel sped through a labyrinth of sastrugi (wind formed bumps on the ice), pressure ridges, and ice blocks. Kish, dutifully serving as our carpenter, did a magnificent job of tying the sled together and ensuring everything made it to the destinations. I'm a little embarrassed about the comparison seeing as we were never in serious danger nor were we ever stranded, but it was still fun letting the imagination wonder.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMswrJqJm7Kzy63KbjOxewcffwE5h74MKZx07r1WtfTr0p1O6ZPFEtQ5nCovpzB97Gs1zeWUM-am6F_sawMnU9xJYLz8L6dMFcgJUQOXK6Sm7PuEaA-AllPNhBnP7DAfEg1k6QDxpocy4/s1600/DSCF1268.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMswrJqJm7Kzy63KbjOxewcffwE5h74MKZx07r1WtfTr0p1O6ZPFEtQ5nCovpzB97Gs1zeWUM-am6F_sawMnU9xJYLz8L6dMFcgJUQOXK6Sm7PuEaA-AllPNhBnP7DAfEg1k6QDxpocy4/s320/DSCF1268.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet views inside the cave</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Incredibly, we successfully retrieved two ice cores and snow samples/ice thickness at five locations. The trip home was a little more enjoyable (though still quite chilly) as we passed a seal haul-out (that's the official term for a group of seals hanging out on the ice). It offered some of our best photo ops of mother seals with pups (see below). As we hit the main road, I spotted a piston bully near one of the glaciers. We decided to be social (I mean seriously, how often do you see another vehicles driving in Antarctica on sea ice?). It turns out it was a photographer group examining an ice cave. What a find! We were able to crawl inside to witness a world like none other. For those of you who have been inside a cave, imagine a similar scene, but with everything made of ice and brilliant blue colors replacing the pitch black. Instantly, we all forgot about the cold (although we were now protected from the winds), and appreciated the serenity of the place. What a fantastic day!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiflsv5c-uU4LBWMal9OUvq4qg_HfsfOaCjD96E-7vn8XhB0bOE2JVopsobko_qpacEo4nkPHCNe3LDZscaWsGJgR5Az3tLQt9Rt9AQ8L4uiUv6bks8A2o2jbbbdLGN0OrK8EMkuV3qk2Q/s1600/DSCF1219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiflsv5c-uU4LBWMal9OUvq4qg_HfsfOaCjD96E-7vn8XhB0bOE2JVopsobko_qpacEo4nkPHCNe3LDZscaWsGJgR5Az3tLQt9Rt9AQ8L4uiUv6bks8A2o2jbbbdLGN0OrK8EMkuV3qk2Q/s320/DSCF1219.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mommy seal offers words of advise</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyFnFc9aMPGTbrbhFZtoRdRbLE5f7FfPPgNQT2AMEGmZMQqkj8wVVXqHTCYW_SCU7LSTArTqldTZQpUm8hhFEuZ5mKrvpVfQpkGTi8Gox703fBa1OcqAJ7K6SRvOb8DzwbBv6Slx7FfY4/s1600/DSCF1237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyFnFc9aMPGTbrbhFZtoRdRbLE5f7FfPPgNQT2AMEGmZMQqkj8wVVXqHTCYW_SCU7LSTArTqldTZQpUm8hhFEuZ5mKrvpVfQpkGTi8Gox703fBa1OcqAJ7K6SRvOb8DzwbBv6Slx7FfY4/s320/DSCF1237.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making sure her baby is fast asleep</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZYHGjLgMlV-_QwtU3GoOByj5zPYdUJFxu-H20gDNNCsrcpZxEzaWH43CyuANvVnnmkvev-w0bFg6R5q8pla3rihakzxsj-tx_5UUhrBKdHW4mf9KL29Fq8GZeoAwi8Zcu4_wDWoHAqY4/s1600/DSCF1248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZYHGjLgMlV-_QwtU3GoOByj5zPYdUJFxu-H20gDNNCsrcpZxEzaWH43CyuANvVnnmkvev-w0bFg6R5q8pla3rihakzxsj-tx_5UUhrBKdHW4mf9KL29Fq8GZeoAwi8Zcu4_wDWoHAqY4/s320/DSCF1248.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All mothers like to kiss their babies</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOP_9hrJNtKT-N_JW2Iedg9ivAbfUJA5Pb2DUwAQhDjdaA_LNfEwBsAQN9I-1VzF7maVgvICrB1Q9fViniqVcZu7BldsJg0k1MGSSkM8rusRdKlFcDh6g2wtrTf0zslfatiyMuvOXK0Q/s1600/PB020741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOP_9hrJNtKT-N_JW2Iedg9ivAbfUJA5Pb2DUwAQhDjdaA_LNfEwBsAQN9I-1VzF7maVgvICrB1Q9fViniqVcZu7BldsJg0k1MGSSkM8rusRdKlFcDh6g2wtrTf0zslfatiyMuvOXK0Q/s320/PB020741.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Protecting your child from the harsh winds</td></tr>
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ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-13285782375609476402012-11-03T23:58:00.000-04:002012-11-03T23:58:33.949-04:00Birthdays in Antarctica<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyaREtd36jyv48Svsc8y_kjEQV8KiDdpttAJuW2DfF-63atr6aaODc3EascJuXferA5NsGIc7EQQHzpXjUE20Un6cvf83yayT7e9eEamSN0-HGlob1D4WwwD5VnVH3CRDYBPQ5N3SvHuU/s1600/DSCF0983.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyaREtd36jyv48Svsc8y_kjEQV8KiDdpttAJuW2DfF-63atr6aaODc3EascJuXferA5NsGIc7EQQHzpXjUE20Un6cvf83yayT7e9eEamSN0-HGlob1D4WwwD5VnVH3CRDYBPQ5N3SvHuU/s320/DSCF0983.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Completely oblivious to the person inside</td></tr>
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Sorry this has been the longest stretch without posting. The good news is that we have been incredible busy... the bad news: not much sleep. So as you all read last time, I had pretty much the best day possible the day prior to my birthday. However, that didn't stop us from enjoying the rest of the week. Rachel threw me a surprise party, although they kind of forgot the small detail of actually getting me to show up. The party was highlighted by a gigantic cardboard cake. At first I was confused, and then shocked as Clint jumped out after the singing, half-naked, carrying a bottle of whiskey. Needless to say, scientists down here are all a little whacked (it's unclear if Antarctica does this to you or it's a preexisting condition).<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2xD0Km15MZadaWH-MoXUILZ149NNM40uILwQPJTYLNyI-NvGsXzWTbCRx7MFDzASQDxjCVNhuObJ8tX7oER3FoBm7LddYzd97RFz6W38gzMJeVH2zhgJtfKu_tZzoqkGHO-6TOPTj_c/s1600/441.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2xD0Km15MZadaWH-MoXUILZ149NNM40uILwQPJTYLNyI-NvGsXzWTbCRx7MFDzASQDxjCVNhuObJ8tX7oER3FoBm7LddYzd97RFz6W38gzMJeVH2zhgJtfKu_tZzoqkGHO-6TOPTj_c/s320/441.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do-it-yourself passport stamping</td></tr>
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Now it would be sad to come all the way to Antarctica and not get your passport stamped. Seeing as we are not actually in any country (and are located at more of an American military base), I had heard it was illegal to stamp your passport. Still, stories told that one could sneak a stamp when mailing a letter. All my carefully laid plans though were unnecessary as the mail room has a clearly labelled "official" passport stamp. I was pretty psyched to get that stamp on my actual birthday. Thus, I repeated the feat two days later (on my sister's birthday) at Scott Base (NZ territory). Since we are 17 hours ahead of EST, we decided that Wednesday was also my birthday as it was still Tuesday back in Boston, where I was born. With beautiful weather (which unfortunately means no snow in our baskets), we took the advantage to truly explore our field sites. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwLGaElNKTTniNdeokDkdIQXtWkehLX06ewKy0ftqmwcozErlLNAxyuEx9h2KQwPz9xu5XE4zpRbH3ffYlk8to1iHZ_QIKVn53TVEeNXVN8TJxclmyifaWFhMHeo-au43_HgFgVsHbn58/s1600/445.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwLGaElNKTTniNdeokDkdIQXtWkehLX06ewKy0ftqmwcozErlLNAxyuEx9h2KQwPz9xu5XE4zpRbH3ffYlk8to1iHZ_QIKVn53TVEeNXVN8TJxclmyifaWFhMHeo-au43_HgFgVsHbn58/s320/445.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visiting our local Weddell seal</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEm9B7ucvGvaOwU1_iq6tJxEiOWOpsBuJ8iqIr_gASCzEkt-1w7VOMGN23NNWwmEXj5C5kH-VFdDLCJEpexmOcTNmt78GWRIdX2Wna7aqko22nUiNxdiBaAM-IDXkqxf284IPiu6mGDg4/s1600/DSCF1045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEm9B7ucvGvaOwU1_iq6tJxEiOWOpsBuJ8iqIr_gASCzEkt-1w7VOMGN23NNWwmEXj5C5kH-VFdDLCJEpexmOcTNmt78GWRIdX2Wna7aqko22nUiNxdiBaAM-IDXkqxf284IPiu6mGDg4/s320/DSCF1045.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laying out for a frisbee in front of our Iceberg</td></tr>
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One of the neat programs down here is the Morale Trip System. Scientists who need an extra field hand (or simply have room for one), can submit a request to get a moralee for the day. This is an incredible opportunity for the moralee to get out into the field when their job at McMurdo might keep them on station, or even indoors, all day. We've taken several people who in 7 years working here have never been on a helicopter or deep out onto the sea ice. Seeing as we generally have an extra seat on our helicopters, we have been lucky and able to invite someone nearly ever trip, very much enjoying the extra help, particularly when we are taking sea ice cores. Wednesday we took Michael, someone who had been on our Happy Camper training and had been dying to join us in the field. We had budgeted an extra hour at the Iceberg site to circle the berg and GPS its coordinates for analysis of size and impact on winds. We first visited the Weddell seal that now lives by the north edge of Chip, our Iceberg. Everywhere along the north side are what appears to be a bobsled course, but are in fact tracks from seals. I tried making like a seal and sliding along, but was woefully unable to replicate the grace of these 1,200 lb creatures. The ice conditions are surprisingly different along the backside of Chip, with large areas of no surface snow and regions with large rafted ice blocks. It was a good indicator that these icebergs are indeed playing a major role in how surface snow blows across the sea ice. Alas, we completed our Chip adventure and returned to the helo. However, as we were flying back to McMurdo, we spotted quite a few Emperor penguins near the ice edge. To celebrate this never ending birthday, our pilot touched down relatively nearby for some good photo ops. A perfect ending for a great day. Michael (as have many of the others) summed it up best: this was the best day all season that he would have on station.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYPCbJTAU4-2D98WdMsgxvEer8ws-cG5EvksHGiMRd3shkM4IbixJ4LanRdjpVSocYSa7ZYiXA3_n-l92WRbBiX0Qpv6n3gc6BADa-GKL4pTkWm4ZDK6h2JTKhR1djneiroDT-7c6BEXc/s1600/DSCF1064.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYPCbJTAU4-2D98WdMsgxvEer8ws-cG5EvksHGiMRd3shkM4IbixJ4LanRdjpVSocYSa7ZYiXA3_n-l92WRbBiX0Qpv6n3gc6BADa-GKL4pTkWm4ZDK6h2JTKhR1djneiroDT-7c6BEXc/s320/DSCF1064.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rachel cartwheeling on the backside of Chip, the Iceberg</td></tr>
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My sister's birthday (11/1/) was also spent having a sweet field day with a moralee. This time, our mode of transportation was snow mobiles, and we were out on the sea ice taking ice cores and snow samples (more on this in a later post). Snowmobiling and ice coring all day is surprisingly tiring, and we all returned exhausted for a well-earned dinner. I had originally planned to play some pickleball as soon as we returned, but the gym was being cleaned and my body did not mind being fed rather than another workout. After dinner, Paul and I decided to ski over to Scott Base, where every Thursday night they have "American Night," and we can come over to visit their shop and bar (the Kiwis have better beer than the Americans). Everyone thought we were crazy for skiing since the winds had picked-up in the afternoon. However, after spending all day snowmobiling and working out on the sea ice, I actually found the evening weather was quite nice, especially after working up a sweat while skiing. We didn't stay for the beers though, as we wanted to catch the shuttle back home to watch the Banff Film Festival being shown at McMurdo. This ran into about 10:15 pm and....<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGUB7kPAoAZUipFdjwMNgGcZIaFY25w-_K_hYaX04DTD3ctOKIhEWo0EbAgsIEnuTs_kgIRu4mDFG8xsxQhQY5AzBRhasP8lGaDjLYnjJRGsDnXaRH1I7DwcZxdRwSHYPCMWzHl_uBM3c/s1600/DSCF1067.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGUB7kPAoAZUipFdjwMNgGcZIaFY25w-_K_hYaX04DTD3ctOKIhEWo0EbAgsIEnuTs_kgIRu4mDFG8xsxQhQY5AzBRhasP8lGaDjLYnjJRGsDnXaRH1I7DwcZxdRwSHYPCMWzHl_uBM3c/s320/DSCF1067.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How we treat moralees that don't work hard </td></tr>
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I'm ashamed to admit that I committed the #1 crime on station: missing a check-in time (which had been 10:00 pm). This is actually a real serious issue because safety is understandably of the utmost importance. Whenever you go into the field or on certain recreation routes (such as the ski trail to Scott Base), you are required to check-out and check-in with the firehouse. If you haven't radioed 5 minutes before your check-in time, the firehouse has already initiated the search and rescue procedure. This begins with sending alarms to 60 of the highest ranking people on station (and now I'm sure my name is blacklisted on station). By the time I realized we had never checked in, they had already sent vehicles to Scott Base and onto the ice. There they found the shuttle driver (a friend of mine) who remembered driving us back. The general punishment is public shaming with your face pictured on milk cartoons, although somehow we fortuitously avoided this. I merely received some good-natured ridicule from friends who had heard about the incident. Paul had it a little worse since he works in communications and also had to return the radios back to the firehouse (technically he had been the trip leader). I now have the dubious honour of having search and rescue called on me in both the Arctic and Antarctica. For those of you who haven't heard the Arctic story, I had been advised to lay down and carefully examine the sea ice before working with it. Thus, on one of my first days up there and after letting others know where I was going, I walked 100 feet offshore and laid down in the snow (any further and you need to have a bear guard with you in the Arctic). Someone happened to drive by while I was getting to know the ice, and from their perspective saw a motionless figure face-down and called the police. 30 minutes later, the car stopped by the side of the road was shocked as that motionless figure popped up and started to walk home. They informed me that one can not simply lie down by themselves on the sea ice up in the Arctic, and the police would be arriving momentarily. Oops.<br />
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You live and learn (and hopefully don't cause too many people heart-attacks along the way).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQzND89hJHWR6npHkkETTkI0RIDaKcFI0b1lzjAtKZVdhKBC64OklQEQp5c9kstUrqaF8WF49izXvl-G0MYaAFtwBpCeuenBlvxd19M1a3FLFrWhK-y0b_aoTm8c6E-KsubvpvAPJ3iM/s1600/DSCF1096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQzND89hJHWR6npHkkETTkI0RIDaKcFI0b1lzjAtKZVdhKBC64OklQEQp5c9kstUrqaF8WF49izXvl-G0MYaAFtwBpCeuenBlvxd19M1a3FLFrWhK-y0b_aoTm8c6E-KsubvpvAPJ3iM/s320/DSCF1096.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emperor penguins dressed in their tuxedos</td></tr>
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<br />ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-37962549791796970042012-10-30T03:00:00.000-04:002012-10-29T23:37:25.442-04:00Photo JournalSince I've run out of superlatives to describe Antarctica, here is simply a photo journal from yesterday for you to enjoy.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQFp_oKT-o5v5zQyOCt7Exgm6NDhvh0CPEdXgHBsLMqLhahIBlkw2K0FHeVB99Ih3-qN4rLa76BxULqpKIC74qHpP8wiZfSbKAktp9DwVejh021M-1w5_sRnpaPZtCtPCsmma05M_fRI/s1600/_TIM0065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQFp_oKT-o5v5zQyOCt7Exgm6NDhvh0CPEdXgHBsLMqLhahIBlkw2K0FHeVB99Ih3-qN4rLa76BxULqpKIC74qHpP8wiZfSbKAktp9DwVejh021M-1w5_sRnpaPZtCtPCsmma05M_fRI/s320/_TIM0065.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Being left at Cape Bird</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvhklf5Z5km_IkSJdtGe-QVcad9dASOFQRBBTf_ySawjZB6vr1pWUoM45L0Hc1Wq0Fw2C2jr-_iPjuSqwJrRlV6setRFO_0AAuPawYSQ8jnc9ZIx-2Fv8Zw5wz3XfSKpGZegt7tnvbYY/s1600/2012-10-29+09.16.41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvhklf5Z5km_IkSJdtGe-QVcad9dASOFQRBBTf_ySawjZB6vr1pWUoM45L0Hc1Wq0Fw2C2jr-_iPjuSqwJrRlV6setRFO_0AAuPawYSQ8jnc9ZIx-2Fv8Zw5wz3XfSKpGZegt7tnvbYY/s320/2012-10-29+09.16.41.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But we are not alone</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNtyyMOXtVa37tHT1-P3kTBvYcEnmDh_CQLocYU9rBqJ-oRXxU2RGbfL0iAFDO4H19avuHKoGfViidNUAKV28wQakQD-TWUixjJ-gUOWohJM-Kp96M5s5VfgiGj4gHsDb1V6wRc7Tw0U/s1600/2012-10-29+09.14.28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNtyyMOXtVa37tHT1-P3kTBvYcEnmDh_CQLocYU9rBqJ-oRXxU2RGbfL0iAFDO4H19avuHKoGfViidNUAKV28wQakQD-TWUixjJ-gUOWohJM-Kp96M5s5VfgiGj4gHsDb1V6wRc7Tw0U/s320/2012-10-29+09.14.28.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New friends</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8QblQjDStxRbkwhLIzGJRXIDBZxhLms8_ugfVODQyIxSPjeb-s7c5D58IUYTnSD-WnWovL2l_xJxA3lM1iUs_ZgmwpK-2uQ2YBYvceoKMIDHIp8qwAeFewzA0XZGiBPkrz4TTNMAqys/s1600/_TIM0053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8QblQjDStxRbkwhLIzGJRXIDBZxhLms8_ugfVODQyIxSPjeb-s7c5D58IUYTnSD-WnWovL2l_xJxA3lM1iUs_ZgmwpK-2uQ2YBYvceoKMIDHIp8qwAeFewzA0XZGiBPkrz4TTNMAqys/s320/_TIM0053.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of little penguins with sweet backdrop</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzAJU1AQwv679aIiImbKQtoZFIJSti4JrRam8Rt8pIUyRcFGteYTG8KlIr7katrNUOfIH16g9ra4Je_aP5moIr6KHRRlUummBLpS-OfZuYIeZkTcNm1Sop1K0Eh7KbrqWKZP4q_88EoMQ/s1600/2012-10-29+09.26.28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzAJU1AQwv679aIiImbKQtoZFIJSti4JrRam8Rt8pIUyRcFGteYTG8KlIr7katrNUOfIH16g9ra4Je_aP5moIr6KHRRlUummBLpS-OfZuYIeZkTcNm1Sop1K0Eh7KbrqWKZP4q_88EoMQ/s320/2012-10-29+09.26.28.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Somebody wants to know if we are penguins</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPgUks1aPyJrvvJQY8d6X4FTwTESOqt50bPiN07Gc7MpSUntOf4ZUesW5TYi9b0_xcbvGDjgSRFfcqYkuB0_T9aslJ4tQybL0o-_Ngfo05LLb_HOWHKuYoLboIDEFP7PrjgfAcbxq2uIM/s1600/2012-10-29+09.26.39.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPgUks1aPyJrvvJQY8d6X4FTwTESOqt50bPiN07Gc7MpSUntOf4ZUesW5TYi9b0_xcbvGDjgSRFfcqYkuB0_T9aslJ4tQybL0o-_Ngfo05LLb_HOWHKuYoLboIDEFP7PrjgfAcbxq2uIM/s320/2012-10-29+09.26.39.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mean face upon learning we don't speak penguin</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_3CsaKZIyqS9Vi1WmS4QxfGlhJADg3wi69LtDieeUmFL1GnkGQsezZQ8zjMM6q0jAEHKQLAqXm0lwC8CTNaeZgQ4id88QxJonAv6m0D_2LjHUTWp76Ko7P1RXWl_TpAk2_XhYeI57CkU/s1600/PA280578.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_3CsaKZIyqS9Vi1WmS4QxfGlhJADg3wi69LtDieeUmFL1GnkGQsezZQ8zjMM6q0jAEHKQLAqXm0lwC8CTNaeZgQ4id88QxJonAv6m0D_2LjHUTWp76Ko7P1RXWl_TpAk2_XhYeI57CkU/s320/PA280578.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh yeah, we did some science too</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZP6jfCXUhyphenhyphen7Sc7N03c4dhD0HZmv1l8XXlREjxwUpIiFVtsHs5wby4tpldU-Fp_d2t_QF7_Q0hC6qXv5WztK5VHT82mqdgBDEpr0SXhyPC9L9JqyTVC9K62JD8X8Yvmr1HuLV8MVUALI4/s1600/PA280573.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZP6jfCXUhyphenhyphen7Sc7N03c4dhD0HZmv1l8XXlREjxwUpIiFVtsHs5wby4tpldU-Fp_d2t_QF7_Q0hC6qXv5WztK5VHT82mqdgBDEpr0SXhyPC9L9JqyTVC9K62JD8X8Yvmr1HuLV8MVUALI4/s320/PA280573.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penguins playing hide and go seek</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhelZqi7i5tqz0xY_dADkLRUEs4UqSJp-FCtr6qAJK1mHhhf350U7KsSkTsZTdHGO6_xCOdL7-dJwFcme82TCwfmZGq6a96WdK_FasysGFPqZRCqr2vYH8BdJunAOHk_HiavL_QuSiG8M/s1600/_TIM0047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhelZqi7i5tqz0xY_dADkLRUEs4UqSJp-FCtr6qAJK1mHhhf350U7KsSkTsZTdHGO6_xCOdL7-dJwFcme82TCwfmZGq6a96WdK_FasysGFPqZRCqr2vYH8BdJunAOHk_HiavL_QuSiG8M/s320/_TIM0047.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Complete coincidence since we didn't see Rachel</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP7uSdAO4BM7WxsZS4vKQMmLHdq1ET_865MVydLnJxR4jhKo-YF9lmUc0rsffusAO2A1jWxgrOmhIaL6jsR0jjYcY25V2QodlD318Gib1MLjyvVSXhqSrx5Cb3kPwZekUSaNTsRUDzadA/s1600/2012-10-29+10.19.17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP7uSdAO4BM7WxsZS4vKQMmLHdq1ET_865MVydLnJxR4jhKo-YF9lmUc0rsffusAO2A1jWxgrOmhIaL6jsR0jjYcY25V2QodlD318Gib1MLjyvVSXhqSrx5Cb3kPwZekUSaNTsRUDzadA/s320/2012-10-29+10.19.17.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking wind readings next to our tower</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK8nkChxdPkQovaWMoK6jQvdtwG6D8XIgDi7na3oOFM53wMpdCCdKDvgUn-2_RzLT_TqeavzHqF9SA27SutaLjrPzuz_LIsxhYMNW1gF2OsnD2FnExr0j4H35fb0-StT_8RVkJFt9fyio/s1600/2012-10-29+14.57.08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK8nkChxdPkQovaWMoK6jQvdtwG6D8XIgDi7na3oOFM53wMpdCCdKDvgUn-2_RzLT_TqeavzHqF9SA27SutaLjrPzuz_LIsxhYMNW1gF2OsnD2FnExr0j4H35fb0-StT_8RVkJFt9fyio/s320/2012-10-29+14.57.08.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Caves in icebergs, no big deal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKMWesLBIdoX-XWWMmUwfpfmedB-RQVChhpD9krEKnTguLCmypbxaOGBSWFvkuzl2Va5iZ_ghAczmSrrd0YkPYJfkgYJeQYcXwsm0ezwhiGpBFccigsrU9PKD2UuWd7cMCpJtCT9QzpRU/s1600/PA280593.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKMWesLBIdoX-XWWMmUwfpfmedB-RQVChhpD9krEKnTguLCmypbxaOGBSWFvkuzl2Va5iZ_ghAczmSrrd0YkPYJfkgYJeQYcXwsm0ezwhiGpBFccigsrU9PKD2UuWd7cMCpJtCT9QzpRU/s320/PA280593.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ross Island coastline</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz9BVYO2au2cgpSoxf0J50ettOnPPenoxviHeOpPT6h1Uv9_9mNbwNldh40PTdx1GS98bsb_TwqMwCqmqEAdqBX2xhNlg5ktqfLxvO6v6xxj6FkeYETpWH3GEu4K7eGEpaOZUFJJRn070/s1600/2012-10-29+16.01.17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz9BVYO2au2cgpSoxf0J50ettOnPPenoxviHeOpPT6h1Uv9_9mNbwNldh40PTdx1GS98bsb_TwqMwCqmqEAdqBX2xhNlg5ktqfLxvO6v6xxj6FkeYETpWH3GEu4K7eGEpaOZUFJJRn070/s320/2012-10-29+16.01.17.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entering the Dry Valleys</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVP8lHQzNfl1Q4sTRpsWMD27fvqMRTb4B5GhE48C995cj4N80l_nfCZg6kLYeoqPow2YYFNOqU-mhiO-ZDrZSyuEXm3RcEiT7R3PaaxG6Hyhrx-AgOt1YCLf1GT7DcHOGH7u1MjGUfuO8/s1600/2012-10-29+16.36.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVP8lHQzNfl1Q4sTRpsWMD27fvqMRTb4B5GhE48C995cj4N80l_nfCZg6kLYeoqPow2YYFNOqU-mhiO-ZDrZSyuEXm3RcEiT7R3PaaxG6Hyhrx-AgOt1YCLf1GT7DcHOGH7u1MjGUfuO8/s320/2012-10-29+16.36.47.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canada glacier</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY0Ri5Ov1l359tP9F7JKcxv1p2plnxw4an6it-0f4xzqL5MgLJ9t6Z1E0NOXHLEwPSdtMy9K-wzfFrBriy3DmhZ0bVTFlWI-T2w0qIoUmHF0LItfO9rgW94zVagDUCCAv8veLQ3jghq7w/s1600/PA280633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY0Ri5Ov1l359tP9F7JKcxv1p2plnxw4an6it-0f4xzqL5MgLJ9t6Z1E0NOXHLEwPSdtMy9K-wzfFrBriy3DmhZ0bVTFlWI-T2w0qIoUmHF0LItfO9rgW94zVagDUCCAv8veLQ3jghq7w/s320/PA280633.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pancake ground (looks like pancake ice)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirGH1c8aJA1pEORqmgE8dgIK2dn1w4QxG_17lvZWE0FfBacVHW3LAr8W0cfczIHIUK3seRQ6lbghodQF2aIGY9PNg5SF9VOwROo5pYVe3ZAdmtLUEpkHCaiOTnzVq4WTQbL8A2aA8Qs04/s1600/PA280636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirGH1c8aJA1pEORqmgE8dgIK2dn1w4QxG_17lvZWE0FfBacVHW3LAr8W0cfczIHIUK3seRQ6lbghodQF2aIGY9PNg5SF9VOwROo5pYVe3ZAdmtLUEpkHCaiOTnzVq4WTQbL8A2aA8Qs04/s320/PA280636.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A maze of mountains</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb60wejTIXKv9TM6MFaS6POoEeXsT6NZlhkQTuMplMCGqZcRukn3SNTYE4jb3J9AgGIgCDdyx_nS6QDmf2cYbz2N-9E4q1rTmOKrlCPIhsYgH1kmHKLVDYjZJvg4KWk_TX4djv8k43N_E/s1600/2012-10-29+16.44.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb60wejTIXKv9TM6MFaS6POoEeXsT6NZlhkQTuMplMCGqZcRukn3SNTYE4jb3J9AgGIgCDdyx_nS6QDmf2cYbz2N-9E4q1rTmOKrlCPIhsYgH1kmHKLVDYjZJvg4KWk_TX4djv8k43N_E/s320/2012-10-29+16.44.01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I really want to ski that left chute</td></tr>
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ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-76603322762242388522012-10-29T08:48:00.000-04:002012-10-29T08:54:58.770-04:00All is back in order... (oh, and the most epic day)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fovlNGG2yuJRl3zW8CkxrjA8HECl-qzKn05tTwehccMse1oZdSoqcSL1H5PgGk8JE29sj-0zEd0S8VBMXtTFKsPj-flC7yrsd-TjC_BBFaJ0RnvgvugkiNsKUKIh-Cspdjwx_wugJpQ/s1600/PA280584.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fovlNGG2yuJRl3zW8CkxrjA8HECl-qzKn05tTwehccMse1oZdSoqcSL1H5PgGk8JE29sj-0zEd0S8VBMXtTFKsPj-flC7yrsd-TjC_BBFaJ0RnvgvugkiNsKUKIh-Cspdjwx_wugJpQ/s320/PA280584.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penguins making a run for safety</td></tr>
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It was getting scary down here for awhile, but Frosty Boy is back in order. Riots have (just nearly) been avoided. Big Bertha (the dishwasher) did break after 20 years of service, but the mechanics have been working all night to get the new one installed tomorrow. Internet in the dorms has been down the last few days due to an antenna blown over, but that has (kind of) been fixed. I finally beat the demon Windows 3.1 software program controlling our weather stations (or at least for one of our sites) and have successfully recorded wind speeds from atop our tower. We actually had some of the desired "specialized meteorology" for our research and collected blowing snow from our tower. Rachel and I gave a joint talk (available online shortly) to the station last night and had a great turnout. All in all, just the normal grind of Antarctica..... WRONG! Today I received potentially the best birthday present (albeit 1 day early) anyone could hope for. The last few days have been incredible, but their stories will have to wait for another post as I try to recap today's adventure (I apologize for the length, and will try to post solely a photo journal from today in the coming days).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCgfQ227c5HlRCD-XvZgNms6azVn_TsQMjm0VJTl5m8UQ6aFNCSdHKlgxUXp8BNxSdXMYS6TmK6sLVPe7_pQK6JVtumzaGaMM-E50FacAccm_2GBVMGNJhj7CW6tNcfBEZXCqFTXhQZDU/s1600/PA280567.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCgfQ227c5HlRCD-XvZgNms6azVn_TsQMjm0VJTl5m8UQ6aFNCSdHKlgxUXp8BNxSdXMYS6TmK6sLVPe7_pQK6JVtumzaGaMM-E50FacAccm_2GBVMGNJhj7CW6tNcfBEZXCqFTXhQZDU/s320/PA280567.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PENGUIN!</td></tr>
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Let's face it: you really came to my blog to hear about penguins and maybe a little about my life in Antarctica (e.g. when did I see the penguins, how many penguins, what was I wearing when I saw the penguins, etc.). Thus, as you might expect, this epic day started with a visit to Cape Bird, aptly named for the local penguin rookery. Our original plans called for installing one of our towers here due to the favourable winds. However, you may recall that our recce flight discovered Cape Bird completely surrounded by open water, and we therefore had relocated to our Butter Point and Iceberg Sites. Not wanting to miss potentially great data from the region (and of course penguin shoots), we had been plotting how we could return. At last, Lars and the German Zealanders had empty seats on their scheduled trip to work on their BrO/ozone monitors there, and we quickly designed a mini snow-catching tower to setup on the beach. Yes... beach, complete with softish rocks/sand, though still mostly covered in snow. Due to bad weather, this flight had been cancelled nearly every day for over a week, but we all said our prayers, made our sacrifices to the spirit of Shackleton, and I left my penguin hat in the dorms (Rachel thought this was the curse).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHqRqcKEHM8mhyLVtdk09ApllYxmY-Hq47CiXnuGSImCIuMcQI8YiSlq5c9dzkBYFqJJ5ksl9XjkFW07F1sUVmW6RTjA2mV1oR-vVSMiSDpi-xCwtPV2ZODhIytFC4Q9i2C04kbJNnZ4Y/s1600/PA280571.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHqRqcKEHM8mhyLVtdk09ApllYxmY-Hq47CiXnuGSImCIuMcQI8YiSlq5c9dzkBYFqJJ5ksl9XjkFW07F1sUVmW6RTjA2mV1oR-vVSMiSDpi-xCwtPV2ZODhIytFC4Q9i2C04kbJNnZ4Y/s320/PA280571.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can that really be an efficient way to move?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are 2 types of penguins down here: Emperors (the tall ones, like in Happy Feet) and Adelies (really awkward creatures who waddle when they walk). You can tell the difference from a helicopter since the Emperors stand straight and tall, barely noticing you flying overhead. Adelies think the world is coming to an end and make a B-line for the ocean. Since they are generally in colonies of tens of thousands, this makes for quite the hilarious site. The beaches near Cape Bird are all Adelie rookeries, so we got to witness the stampedes. So far every time we've flown, the helicopter has shut down and stayed with us. Today, the helo just dropped us on the beach as we exited with the blades still spinning. It is quite the experience holding down all of your scientific equipment as the winds from the propellers bombard you. We caught our breath for a few minutes and got to work. Trying not to be distracted by the silly little creatures waddling and sliding on their bellies, we quickly installed our mini-tower on the rafted ice at the edge of the beach. Penguins are generally quite curious and will come right up to you, checking to see if this other 2-legged thing is one of their kind (Why did I leave that hat in my room?!) We had a few minutes for photos, but unfortunately (that might be the only time I use that word in this post), our return helo arrived 30 minutes early. With the science complete, it was hard to convince them that we needed more time solely for fun with penguins.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeNmF2nxDgHG0nCrKSkjxyVzXjEfe6gqM7u-HeZbdgrlaOofuEbvq_Haef7hWxdoczgCZzT2KQy42MLPdqe9XDa9lwNcf21FzJPdCSB8IKClhLoEZgEBQqTb5pbWaVvCEVOnkJI_3Dkjo/s1600/PA280574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeNmF2nxDgHG0nCrKSkjxyVzXjEfe6gqM7u-HeZbdgrlaOofuEbvq_Haef7hWxdoczgCZzT2KQy42MLPdqe9XDa9lwNcf21FzJPdCSB8IKClhLoEZgEBQqTb5pbWaVvCEVOnkJI_3Dkjo/s320/PA280574.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penguin tracks: half footprints/half tummy-print</td></tr>
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We returned back to McMurdo, had a quick lunch, and then I drove the German Zealanders back to Scott Base. I had time for a quick goodbye to Udo (he leaves today), and then it was back to the helipad for our afternoon flight. Per usual, we first stopped at our Butter Point Site. Here, we found a shocking discovery, but you will to have to check out the IceKid yourself to see what we found (see links on top left of page). Although the demon (i.e. weather station) beat me here, I got the best of him at the Iceberg Site. Our tower at the Iceberg now has a new visitor, a seal who has taken up residency right next door. We introduced ourselves, completed our science, and then packed up. As we were leaving, our pilot mentioned that we needed to refuel at Marble Pt. Having done this a few prior times, I was confused when we started heading further north than usual and at a higher elevation. Upon reaching 6,000 ft, we finally enquired. He showed us that from this vantage point we could see into the Dry Valleys (another B-day present). <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9AC8mZmaomzRQKdIZHzPKWXy96oxawXmEGiG1Jw94m2-3UoRzHmJNb8aJ3LIU0zTRl1a8NMJ-AoPX1VqgxEjlb8I2BjwOzsazLfxahp9dSWxsr62xr_dO_tY0MWoZZ_6l8IE5AiBegmQ/s1600/PA280611.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9AC8mZmaomzRQKdIZHzPKWXy96oxawXmEGiG1Jw94m2-3UoRzHmJNb8aJ3LIU0zTRl1a8NMJ-AoPX1VqgxEjlb8I2BjwOzsazLfxahp9dSWxsr62xr_dO_tY0MWoZZ_6l8IE5AiBegmQ/s320/PA280611.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First glimpse of the Dry Valleys</td></tr>
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Now the Dry Valleys are one of Antarctica's most treasured landscapes, one of the world's most extreme landscapes, and shockingly mainly snow-free with jagged mountains, rivers, and frozen lakes (if you are at Dartmouth, you should ask Ross Virginia for more info). We were totally psyched to get a glimpse into this unique landscape, as there is no scientific reason for us to land in this heavily protected area. We then refuelled at Marble and then headed home.... but wait! This epic day can't end yet. Over the radio, we received a request to pick up a generator and fuel from a lake in the Dry Valleys and deliver it to a nearby field camp. Reading our minds, our pilot didn't wait to ask us, and we were treated to some of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. I don't think I would ever become bored of running helo errands in the Dry Valleys. <br />
<br />
After such a day, the evening was quite relaxed, although it included a farewell party for someone leaving station and a travel talk about Cuba by another friend. If you made it this far, thanks for letting me crudely put into words the adventures from today. Hopefully the photo diary in my next post will help share some of these stories with you. No need to get me a birthday present tomorrow, I already had the best one I could ask for.<br />
Oh, and I saw 6,843 penguins (although only a handful up close) today at Cape Bird and I was wearing bunny boots, two pairs of snowpants, Big Red, flannel shirt, and my Red Sox t-shirt.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWhrcQ6Q2_iRUSkOZ-9UwU873afFunD2JRBq6myU2iZsoGZlqi07AFnYxh78QpRTSGz1g-pBiZfBuNMQE9nqMRPtqVR7k-HgdQZBmx2C3ZY5fzZAC7MD4gdHxvaWAK4r1WChufow4H_sw/s1600/PA280632.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWhrcQ6Q2_iRUSkOZ-9UwU873afFunD2JRBq6myU2iZsoGZlqi07AFnYxh78QpRTSGz1g-pBiZfBuNMQE9nqMRPtqVR7k-HgdQZBmx2C3ZY5fzZAC7MD4gdHxvaWAK4r1WChufow4H_sw/s320/PA280632.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dry Valleys, McMurdo</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0bHurolTJ85i8vpMKFzJzRXhyphenhyphenhkiWQL4s6qAmFQhVrRMn9sYoikBEOLBudPDdvhYq-dU5BAFeM64EpFtonQfQww0r2JbGipAScfkFC-7lgUbJVhLn8-hw6AN_w-Oncj6tG873Bnwk3nY/s1600/PA280619.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0bHurolTJ85i8vpMKFzJzRXhyphenhyphenhkiWQL4s6qAmFQhVrRMn9sYoikBEOLBudPDdvhYq-dU5BAFeM64EpFtonQfQww0r2JbGipAScfkFC-7lgUbJVhLn8-hw6AN_w-Oncj6tG873Bnwk3nY/s320/PA280619.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet glacier in the Dry Valleys</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-66271568009160498002012-10-25T06:45:00.000-04:002012-10-25T06:45:02.401-04:00Eating in Antarctica<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ZC_gszWTBajfTCUPFtTuIM76E3Rc-XbadRvjg4BhoZ6hyphenhyphenRd3R6GUjM4IqI2FXtI36YYlOYVrkQTa1pDeDcJKa3CZ8-ikBXRXWvADDNRllNdMxdXBNyovnekRicyo-X4BqVV834sIZoU/s1600/P1020476.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ZC_gszWTBajfTCUPFtTuIM76E3Rc-XbadRvjg4BhoZ6hyphenhyphenRd3R6GUjM4IqI2FXtI36YYlOYVrkQTa1pDeDcJKa3CZ8-ikBXRXWvADDNRllNdMxdXBNyovnekRicyo-X4BqVV834sIZoU/s320/P1020476.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How Rachel treats her grad students</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As you probably know, I think food is an excellent motivator. Although I've touched on it briefly, I think it's only fair that I have an entire blog post dedicated to eating in Antarctica. Plus, even if you don't work outside all day, there's no reason you shouldn't be taking in your 6,000 calories a day (I think we all gain weight down here). Before getting into the details, I should first mention that I've eaten real well and have surprisingly enjoyed the food here immensely. Since it would be kind of creepy if I went around taking photos in the galley (cafeteria), for this post I will just use random, completely unrelated photos from today's visit to our field sites. Thus, for all of you who only look at my photos and don't read the text, you will be very confused by the title of this post. Though there was some taste sampling of snow today....<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8YXsubDKaVp5lMv2rpo4bcee5yZQVS-MqmXhBtszt92n2r_aaGdS1Sgxzba3t-70nCqwbPdGyPHJsXUDO7TUcUEmfSO3Mqqck_Jq6fzm1jyYRmZ_3lrqEXdxgp0DwAFEmecaneYfsXz8/s1600/P1020525.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8YXsubDKaVp5lMv2rpo4bcee5yZQVS-MqmXhBtszt92n2r_aaGdS1Sgxzba3t-70nCqwbPdGyPHJsXUDO7TUcUEmfSO3Mqqck_Jq6fzm1jyYRmZ_3lrqEXdxgp0DwAFEmecaneYfsXz8/s320/P1020525.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We caught snow!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Breakfast</b>: I think I mentioned before it only runs until 7:30. When I first arrived, I used to ensure I woke up just in time to make it by 7:25. However, I then came to the incredible discovery that cereal and granola are available anytime of the day. As that is my general go-to breakfast anyways, I have gladly taken the extra hour or so of sleep, and let our helicopter time dictate when I get up in the morning. <br />
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<b>Lunch:</b> For every meal, there are several stations. For lunch there is always a sandwich station with a daily meat and veggie selection. For both lunch and dinner, you always have the choice of two soups. The hot dishes rotate with a lot of overlap between dinner selections. If you happen to be in the field during lunch, you can request a bag lunch, consisting of 1 veggie/meat sandwich, 1 PB&J sandwich, 1 bag chips, 1 snack, 1 juicebox, and a dessert (you will not go hungry). The one speciality lunch each week is "Wednesday Mexican Cookie Day." The title is kind of misleading because there are no Mexican cookies. However, someone once decided Mexican food and cookies should go together and it just stuck. Mexican food is self-explanatory. Cookies in McMurdo though are not. Before the big crowds arrived this week, one of my friends had helped baking one day. He told me they baked about 2,000 cookies for Wednesday lunch. Amazingly, each one is absolutely incredible and there is a selection of a dozen different varieties (chocolate chip, double chocolate, butterscotch chip, mint chocolate, sugar, butter, oatmeal, pecan, etc.). Since the population here has now surpassed 850, I believe the cookie count is now over 3,000. In addition, work crews can request cookies on Wed for their job sites. The odds would seem to be in your favor. Yet, if you show up towards the end of lunch on Wed, you are just left with the crumbs of the oatmeal or pecan cookies. Although frowned upon, quite a few people take a plate full and stockpile them in their rooms. The cookies are that good.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWCFkt7CYKh5Oav8Cu5TauMuGEB42oLfYUNeLT2bV6gAknqOenkg-7pJoXDa_0o3A6XCPzdgN6N-Q9JlWjK8H5v1Toiag0sLR3Z4FLElnSdyLcaXVf4xBPhZFhEVrI2jQJPTi9jAfN7ls/s1600/DSCF0705.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWCFkt7CYKh5Oav8Cu5TauMuGEB42oLfYUNeLT2bV6gAknqOenkg-7pJoXDa_0o3A6XCPzdgN6N-Q9JlWjK8H5v1Toiag0sLR3Z4FLElnSdyLcaXVf4xBPhZFhEVrI2jQJPTi9jAfN7ls/s320/DSCF0705.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Measuring snow depths</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Dinner: </b>Whenever a C-17 plane arrives, you can sense the excitement in the dining hall the next day: fresh veggies, fruit that is not frozen (maybe even a banana), etc. The longest line these days is for the salad bar, which is a bit of stretch to call a "bar." A typically salad bar might be lettuce, celery, and tomatoes or lettuce, mushrooms, and croutons. Recently though, we have had bell peppers and twice have had cucumbers thanks to some good weather. Nevertheless, I was expecting conditions like Barrow, and am amazed to have any salad bar at all. There is quite the selection of hot dishes (and always a veggie choice) and sides, nearly all of which I enjoy (except after a stretch of bad weather when the best choice becomes tuna casserole). I think my only disappointment is in the hot sauce selection, particularly considering the type of people here. It is either Sriracha (which I'm not a huge fan of for most dishes) or a Louisiana Hot Sauce (that is mediocre at best). One day, there was 1 bottle of Frank, but he disappeared quickly. Oh well. Frank will be waiting for me when I get home. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqjS5h-gFXraIWwgV530vAchp_NfaWhPHiGS9Y8GtrovSGOkyKj1KtOEAV_Z3FQk3iDxVeYlSyApuDOujJBRqyzxIW-wXdDemLncKs1muHROSGmiSK4ygZ7BSrRod-AU3qcEvPKHkwYw/s1600/DSCF0736.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqjS5h-gFXraIWwgV530vAchp_NfaWhPHiGS9Y8GtrovSGOkyKj1KtOEAV_Z3FQk3iDxVeYlSyApuDOujJBRqyzxIW-wXdDemLncKs1muHROSGmiSK4ygZ7BSrRod-AU3qcEvPKHkwYw/s320/DSCF0736.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fuel stop at Marble Point</td></tr>
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<b>Dessert</b>: I was never a big dessert person and used to rarely eat dessert with dinner. McMurdo has definitely changed that. Lunch and dinner each have a selection of 2 incredible choices. In addition, there is (usually) always Frosty Boy. The station though is in near panic mode though this week because something happened to the refrigeration unit of Frosty Boy and he has now been out of commission for 4 consecutive days. It is actually quite humorous to sit next to Frosty Boy and watch newbies try to make him work. If you sit down at a random table, there is a 50% chance that the loss of Frosty Boy is the topic of conversation. I know the mechanics are working on it, but if you hear about any riots down here, you will know why. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn0rLBInCUM_tOGUGvdJQiTYJwtMQifXat8Ob4M8OWGMCg7UYbJ9AU1F-8cXng6AnZ3_ZFW6RfiIasHbIMJQenRq5yY05jSKOONrz0WEfbA5td57oLP3-hfd_jICn3IQ8Sn3gU65NWSSA/s1600/DSCF0535.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn0rLBInCUM_tOGUGvdJQiTYJwtMQifXat8Ob4M8OWGMCg7UYbJ9AU1F-8cXng6AnZ3_ZFW6RfiIasHbIMJQenRq5yY05jSKOONrz0WEfbA5td57oLP3-hfd_jICn3IQ8Sn3gU65NWSSA/s320/DSCF0535.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet caves in an iceberg</td></tr>
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<b>Special Meals</b>: There are a few secrets that the galley offers each week which are not advertised and are only known to season veterans. Thankfully I've now been clued in. Thursdays at 10am there are the most incredible buttermilk biscuits served with a tub of butter. I'm not a biscuit person, but these melt in your mouth and are worth putting work on hold for. Just yesterday though, I found out about Saturday 3pm pizza break, but I've yet to make it to one. Saturday dinners are special since you are allowed to bring beer/wine (of course the Kiwis at Scott Base have BYOB every night). Holidays are also supposedly quite special here, but we will be home by then. <br />
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<b>Where to Sit:</b> It's a bit like middle school. You get your tray full of food and then look out to the abyss desperately seeking friends. Generally, people sit with the same people on their work crews. It differs from middle school though in that everyone is friendly and it is socially acceptable to sit with anyone, despite their ranking on station. When we first arrived, it was quite easy since most of the tables were empty. However, it is slowly getting to the point where it is hard to find an empty seat (nevertheless table) if you arrive during popular times.<br />
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Everyone agrees you will not lose any weight eating in McMurdo! If you are self-conscious though, you have the built-in excuse of BigRed (the ridiculous large Red Parka) to explain any extra weight when you step on a scale, which we do daily for flying on the helos. Personally, I've now gotten used to my flight weight of 212 lbs....WOW (although it does include all of my ECW, equipment I have tucked away in pockets, etc.). <br />
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ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-28009990676825925082012-10-22T07:13:00.000-04:002012-10-22T07:13:07.486-04:00Journal EntriesAs this is my first time blogging, I've been having fun experimenting with different ways of sharing this incredible experience with you all. On that subject, I've now added a Q&A page. If you have any questions about what life is like here, our research, or anything else, feel free to post and I'll try to answer as soon as possible. Since I have left you all hanging the last few days, I'll try catching you up in a more journal-like play-by-play manner. Note that I am going to use days of the week (and not actual dates) for the following reasons:<br />
1) I've realized calendars and dates are a completely man-made concept.<br />
2) I now have blog readers from all 7 continents.<br />
3) The time difference to VT gets quite confusing... Football Mondays, wtf?<br />
4) It never gets dark here anymore so it is hard to tell when days actually end.<br />
<br />
<i>Wednesday</i><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sJfuTMeUpYIW1D1Cq1gqv2VU1YaLbYdZyiEAfdQ1GLv8MkYsa78BhcSAOxQV33coe1BwIGvY_51iNTfCFKc-nInkTGESuMpey2OBGCVWw514E4nTbpmgns7H5y72xpeTu7Yra7fDVGE/s1600/DSCF0313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sJfuTMeUpYIW1D1Cq1gqv2VU1YaLbYdZyiEAfdQ1GLv8MkYsa78BhcSAOxQV33coe1BwIGvY_51iNTfCFKc-nInkTGESuMpey2OBGCVWw514E4nTbpmgns7H5y72xpeTu7Yra7fDVGE/s320/DSCF0313.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drilling a sea ice core</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdCTbHUnQ5CuHIoblcEo9zSh-gKaCLm5A8lVCP102eh_k3RhGsbWMeNB8XlxQKl4Jgy6xxfF3_CdsZL4G4u1GZHJLNDfCSyI9u-dBf9o0SmOU7A5lZHdGy8rT_NGeIvuRCGkWT9eFp5WE/s1600/DSCF0326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdCTbHUnQ5CuHIoblcEo9zSh-gKaCLm5A8lVCP102eh_k3RhGsbWMeNB8XlxQKl4Jgy6xxfF3_CdsZL4G4u1GZHJLNDfCSyI9u-dBf9o0SmOU7A5lZHdGy8rT_NGeIvuRCGkWT9eFp5WE/s320/DSCF0326.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Recording temperature profile of core</td></tr>
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Today we helicoptered to both of our sites to collect samples. Since we have been having the Antarctic equivalent of Florida weather (Sunny, no wind, with a high of 5 degrees F), our baskets were empty. However, we had yet to take a sea ice core from our Iceberg site, so that was the plan for the afternoon. McMurdo has a "Morale Trip" system where we as scientists can take out volunteers from the station so they can get out and lend a hand, learn some science, and enjoy the incredible scenery. Today, we took our first volunteer, Michael, who was eager to lend a hand as we drilled our core. Since the ice is over 3 ft thick, we have to drill in 2 sections. Michael helped with the 1st half, but then we told him he could join the pilots on a walk around the Iceberg to appreciate the beauty as Rachel and I did the 2nd half.... and then DISASTER struck! The bottom of the core was quite slushy, and it started going in at a slight angle. However, it was enough such that we were unable to pull the core barrel out of the hole. oops. We tried the drill, but no such luck (the drill doesn't spin in reverse). We tried by hand (even adding extended lever arms). We even tried lying down and leg pressing it out (after hearing friends use that technique in Greenland). No dice. After hacking with ice-axes for an hour, we had to admit defeat for the day. Nothing quite like calling McMurdo on the radio (with all the big bosses listening), "MacOps, MacOps, this is Project O-263. Yes, thanks for the fancy ice corer, but it's kinda stuck in the ice right now. We know environmental regulations don't even allow leaving bread crumbs or pee on the sea ice, but hopefully penguins like ice corers? Over."<br />
<br />
<i>Thursday</i><br />
Today we were forced (self-imposed) to sit in time-out in our lab and not fly on the helos. I spent the day playing with GIS making pretty maps of our field sites and proposed drilling sites. Due to budget cuts, there are only 3 computers on station that have
Arcmap: one for the surveyors, one for the field safety crew, and one
for public use that runs about as quickly as a scientist wearing his ECW
and bunny boots. It had been awhile since I played with Arcmap so I probably spent 3 times longer than necessary, but at least the maps eventually came out pretty. We celebrated the small successes in life by heading over to Scott Base to have a welcome dinner with our German/Kiwi colleagues (Johannes and Udo recently arrived to join Tim and Denis). <br />
<br />
<i>Friday</i><br />
We recovered the corer stuck in the ice! And by "we," I mean one of the gear guys who came along and spent 3 hours hacking out a hole around the corer 3 feet deep while Rachel and I drilled a new core. Thanks Solomon (who turned out to be a friend of Lilly Corenthal... small world). Good day in the field.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-7kmZblLCg6HK3hyoqbVscBijk-j-vJG4MzDqEYQ1J0TNyFMSOSsjedK16gh6BAtVGm5fvbsoLh4YPL7ddUUrj3gxnTZXZVO8BUb5CLZZSVS-dH-Dt-D26Sy6-eL3cMyVRjDBqNUVN8/s1600/308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-7kmZblLCg6HK3hyoqbVscBijk-j-vJG4MzDqEYQ1J0TNyFMSOSsjedK16gh6BAtVGm5fvbsoLh4YPL7ddUUrj3gxnTZXZVO8BUb5CLZZSVS-dH-Dt-D26Sy6-eL3cMyVRjDBqNUVN8/s320/308.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Intrepid Antarctic explorers checking out an iceberg</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWZc4PCfFJoTSujML5sAkPMhxmuZCjZiN-gPfMARPEmITxx4phLjGWjJnSQlCyhugR1zkicETKPR46__Pjx1CQ0tUbDJnzoS8vO_V1p_LImXA7yjgh_T3kVoa4XLAxKJZOdDEjtSpkq0o/s1600/DSCF0610.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWZc4PCfFJoTSujML5sAkPMhxmuZCjZiN-gPfMARPEmITxx4phLjGWjJnSQlCyhugR1zkicETKPR46__Pjx1CQ0tUbDJnzoS8vO_V1p_LImXA7yjgh_T3kVoa4XLAxKJZOdDEjtSpkq0o/s320/DSCF0610.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cracks in the ice</td></tr>
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<i>Saturday</i><br />
Today I planned to sleep in. However, at 8:30 I awoke to a phone call from Rachel, letting me know that we were leaving in 1 hr for Cape Evans (12 miles away) with Lars, Tom, Tim, Denis, and Johannes (Udo, or maybe his instrument, was misbehaving so we left him to fix it by himself). Quickly I rushed through the 30-min process of dressing oneself, threw together my person bag, and ran out to gather our scientific equipment and survival gear. Mode of transportation would be a piston bully (PB), the standard for short journeys over sea ice with lots of gear. A PB makes a sloth seem fast, and thus we expected to arrive at the BrO monitoring site 2 hours later. After some packing delays and realizing we needed to refuel the PB, we pulled out of McMurdo around 10:45. After a "speedy" 15 minutes (traveling maybe 2 miles), we notice our PB was struggling (even beyond its normal standard), so we returned back home to bring it to the shop. Sweet, lunch time and nothing accomplished as of yet. Thankfully, we were able to track down another PB from some friends and actually left McMurdo close to 1pm. After arriving around 3pm, the German Zealanders went to work on their instruments while Rachel and I started coring and taking snow samples. Turns out our corer didn't enjoy the bumpy ride on the PB and the top cap (with all of its tiny screws) had come apart. Nothing quite like making mechanical repairs with tiny screws and small metal parts in the cold. Nevertheless, we persevered and retrieved a beautiful core. After a little bit of time to take in the sites (rrrr..... NO PENGUINS! We saw tons of tracks and guano since this is one of their favorite sites, but they seem to hide from us), we returned just in time for the end of dinner (Saturday night you are allowed to take wine to dinner, so you don't want to miss out).<br />
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<br />
<i>Sunday</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiujlaQVMoj59VesaVSp7qAg9O00NX2BQC2gL7XjzweX2_eRvCq2PDq_Z4jJN1-ySEduhsdzhE6RTsC_CXn0LNutXbdYVdtE9A17FF2GH-osguj5B2xGGtpvMg7gli7NUlWzKW1GYg9EBM/s1600/DSCF0636a.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiujlaQVMoj59VesaVSp7qAg9O00NX2BQC2gL7XjzweX2_eRvCq2PDq_Z4jJN1-ySEduhsdzhE6RTsC_CXn0LNutXbdYVdtE9A17FF2GH-osguj5B2xGGtpvMg7gli7NUlWzKW1GYg9EBM/s320/DSCF0636a.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diana and I enjoying cross-country skiing in Antarctica</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42rSlD0YZzmr_zLSKb9gzV16EweQ98UmGSp9sdvWBmIWmBRGDheuq6mXLbfa38lF8X4b09AHDIGVL3vX3-YQNknhvMhAQT1_xb1mdBXnGFx52Ze7wY5PF3fGAN9vB4MkvJBLz_vKFoAE/s1600/DSCF0633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42rSlD0YZzmr_zLSKb9gzV16EweQ98UmGSp9sdvWBmIWmBRGDheuq6mXLbfa38lF8X4b09AHDIGVL3vX3-YQNknhvMhAQT1_xb1mdBXnGFx52Ze7wY5PF3fGAN9vB4MkvJBLz_vKFoAE/s320/DSCF0633.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black flags mark crevasses... watch out</td></tr>
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Sundays are the day of "rest" at McMurdo since it is the only day off for most of the crew. A few people kick back with a bottle of wine and enjoy a movie. However, this is McMurdo and very few people are normal. Thus, despite subzero temps, unheard of windchills, and lots of ice, people generally go out and play (provided the weather is Con-1). I was easily convinced (plus, we are having ridiculously nice weather as mentioned above) to join a ski-trip leaving at 7:30 am in order to make it back in time for Sunday brunch. The plan was to skate-ski the Castle Rock loop, the longest recreation trail. Turns out that since I had been skate-skiing once (Thanks, Meira!), I was the 2nd most experienced person in the group, and 2 of the 5 of us had never been on any type of skis before (notice how this doesn't stop anyone from joining a 5 hour ski trip). After a valiant effort and a broken pole (replaced by a bamboo flag), the 2 newbies decided walking was faster, but were still able to complete the loop with us. Most of the trail is relatively flat. However, the 2nd half of the trail was a little sketchy since it involved some serious descents on icy terrain (Antarctic is a desert and has very little snow). Rachel actually found it better to sit down and slide on her skis. They kindly mark any known crevasses near the trail with black flags, but you can't see them because they are covered in thin layers of snow. Heading down steep slopes on flimsy cross-country skis with no metal edges with black flags around is quite the experience. The map of the trail even indicates where people have died (as a reminder not to venture off the red flagged routes). Thankfully, we made it back 5 minutes before the end of brunch, where we scarfed an incredible feast. I then played a little volleyball for an hour or two before crashing early to wake up in time for Monday's scheduled helo trip.ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-22190034624988959222012-10-18T09:16:00.001-04:002012-10-18T09:51:18.931-04:00Top TensWhere has the time gone? With the approach of summer, new people are showing up all the time here, and a common question is when did you arrive. I usually answer, "I came on the first flight main-body.... you know, a few days ago." Somehow, a few days has now turned in 18, so my answer is not quite accurate anymore. Wow. I feel I have been here long enough though to come up with top 10 lists for the good and bad at McMurdo. (Note: both lists are in no particular order)<br />
<u><br /></u>
<u><b>TOP 10</b></u><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75lp12Df-72JiWaZQGEUaNQ32Tl5cQ4JQIuC_IJgkAnoPYRA8Wyp0zcpuellWivowgPo7E-uo-UySRuemsm-nOMRf35g0APm_chkGdkOlQKn5kvtStT25GzVltsCgtS0fW6hfSXpSTj8/s1600/125.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75lp12Df-72JiWaZQGEUaNQ32Tl5cQ4JQIuC_IJgkAnoPYRA8Wyp0zcpuellWivowgPo7E-uo-UySRuemsm-nOMRf35g0APm_chkGdkOlQKn5kvtStT25GzVltsCgtS0fW6hfSXpSTj8/s320/125.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My stash for field work</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcoCaQRxC-sLbhX9Syp4mh6OB74VHjhobGjR0z3vWxBE2n3FWeuKUfY2vJfOPkFPCbUELV7VVwEqP-rb5kRaWg0WA_8Q-EiEOZ0EvUYQYCUt9fzBqqwEJjGvwcln8Voy9p__CGk6rkBQ/s1600/164.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcoCaQRxC-sLbhX9Syp4mh6OB74VHjhobGjR0z3vWxBE2n3FWeuKUfY2vJfOPkFPCbUELV7VVwEqP-rb5kRaWg0WA_8Q-EiEOZ0EvUYQYCUt9fzBqqwEJjGvwcln8Voy9p__CGk6rkBQ/s320/164.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Touch tank... watch out for scary orange spider</td></tr>
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<b>1) The #1 rule of the Arctic/Antarctic</b> <b>(courtesy of Don):</b> <i>Eat as much as you can, whenever you can.</i> I don't go into the field without my pockets overflowing with chocolate. They say you need 6,000 calories a day just to maintain your energy/weight if you are out working on the ice all day. SWEET! <br />
<b>2) The scenery</b>: Photos never do it justice, but hopefully I've been able to share at least a glimmer of what it is like. Unlike anything I've ever seen before.<br />
<b>3) The people: </b>As they say down here, "You don't need to be crazy to work at McMurdo. We'll train you." Just the way I like it.... Overall, some of the most interesting, kindest, helpful, and fun people I know. You don't come here for the creature comforts. <br />
<b>4) No cell phones:</b> Oh it's lovely, but I do always feel like I'm forgetting something when I leave my room without my keys/cellphone/wallet.<br />
<b>5) Seals: </b>How can you argue with those photos?<br />
<b>6) The weather, particularly the snow: </b>Well maybe that one is just me since I melt when it gets above 65 (and there is actually not that much snow). However, we didn't have winter last year in VT. I was seriously suffering from withdrawal.<br />
<b>7) The lifestyle:</b> Someone to cook all 3 meals for me a day. No chores. No real credit card bills. Kind of like college all over again.<br />
<b>8) Frosty Boy:</b> I'm not a huge dessert person, but it's part of the experience. Huge lunch with chocolate cake and brownies? Still need Frosty Boy for 2nd round of desserts. Dinner with pie and pudding? Soft serve can top that off too. Breakfast? I've seen him there. When Frosty Boy breaks for a few hours, I swear there are near riots in the dinning hall. How else can you get those 6,000 calories?<br />
<b>9) So much science:</b> We are still early season, but there are already so many incredible projects going on. Scientists studying seal population dynamics, volcanic eruptions, penguins, climate change, sea urchins, sea ice physics, astronomy, atmospheric chemistry, etc. Nonstop conversations with some of the most brilliant people in the world. My favorite is the petting zoo/touch tank aquarium with some of the strange gigantic marine life that lives here, except for the gigantic (8-10 inch) orange water spider... he is not my friend. <br />
<b>10) The experience: </b>I'm in friekin Antarctica! I thought this was the coolest place on Earth ever since 4th grade when I found my name on the world atlas.<br />
<br />
<u><b>NOT-SO TOP 10</b></u><b> </b><br />
<b>1) Getting dressed/undressed:</b> The 30-minute process of dressing and redressing yourself gets quite tiring. Being inside for even 2 min and you roast to death under all those layers. Do work outside and you sweat. Take a break and the sweat freezes. Burn in the sun while shivering in the wind. No matter what you do, you are a "thermal idiot." <br />
<b>2) Doing things in mittens: </b>Sucks<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYW73nphy5mLfQZ_X96oz-lme4WI6UzVgikxM_yj9Gdp3crhTHRN_7NZg1ctWwJXVp-RAQ3oHG8FgHzVxMzJ2GlgT6LEbNLAq8KFyaVQ_L18KFHvhM31r9Fk5lHKUvZST_NxB_8FP0VR4/s1600/161.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYW73nphy5mLfQZ_X96oz-lme4WI6UzVgikxM_yj9Gdp3crhTHRN_7NZg1ctWwJXVp-RAQ3oHG8FgHzVxMzJ2GlgT6LEbNLAq8KFyaVQ_L18KFHvhM31r9Fk5lHKUvZST_NxB_8FP0VR4/s320/161.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying to (kinda watch) the one Pats game that we've had</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilgsYbLNuc9rV2T1H-ivnFsZzU1XUo8TchS9yv_Q3OpqYKq_egGXFqDB4tMkjopSiJrBGmEFwMFrDLUaqMClYJzC-nZ_IcyDxFoVrSZKw8eeA9vkOon-E8_xybuMbFPDSCYRi2kJUXD-k/s1600/DSCF0381.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilgsYbLNuc9rV2T1H-ivnFsZzU1XUo8TchS9yv_Q3OpqYKq_egGXFqDB4tMkjopSiJrBGmEFwMFrDLUaqMClYJzC-nZ_IcyDxFoVrSZKw8eeA9vkOon-E8_xybuMbFPDSCYRi2kJUXD-k/s320/DSCF0381.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He is actually Top 10, but wouldn't look for photoshoot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>3) Breakfast: </b>I love the dining hall and admire those folks dearly. But seriously, breakfast from 5:30-7:30? I am not a morning person<b>.</b><br />
<b>4) Crevasses: </b>Yeah, I don't care to fall into one of those. <br />
<b>5) Beer selection: </b>It says something when Milwaukee's Best is the "quality" beer choice. Thankfully the Kiwi's have a better selection at Scott Base.<br />
<b>6) Mother may I?:</b> It seems you need permission for everything here, particularly if you want to step food outside. Safety is important and you understand why, but there can be a bit of a "Big Brother" feel to it. We spent hours/days on the paperwork just to collaborate with our colleagues at Scott Base.<br />
<b>7) Nearly no sports (on TV):</b> Considering the (lack of) success for the Red Sox and my fantasy teams, this might be a good thing. However, I do miss football season. <br />
<b>8) Getting shocked all the time:</b> Gets real old, real quick. Since it is so dry, charge builds up very quickly and you feel it every time you touch anything metal. <br />
<b>9) The (good) weather:</b> I have the curse of the good weather (if such a thing exists). My research wants the nastiest, windiest, snowiest weather there is. So far (and last winter in Alaska and during testing in VT) the winds have been dead. When it does get windy, the helicopters won't fly. Ugh.<br />
<b>10) Breathing, seeing, and not getting frost bite...</b><b>only allowed to choose 2</b>: Another one of Don's sayings. Thankfully this is only true on the worst days, which we haven't really experienced so far (although was very true in Barrow, AK).ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497761673489843382.post-10797098288726728522012-10-15T04:39:00.000-04:002012-10-15T06:04:37.237-04:00Let's talk scienceI am frequently asked what do I study by a variety of people, and I try to answer this in a variety of ways depending upon the circumstances. Science communication is an important skill, and I consider it part of my roll as a scientist to explain difficult concepts to the general public, such as my sister who wants to know where her tax dollars go (mind you 0.2% of the federal budget is spent on science). It is helpful to have everything from a 2 word description to a full presentation about your research ready at anytime. Particularly here in McMurdo, where there are 900 people supporting 37 science projects, there is a lot of curiosity about our work. Here is what I answer (choose your category carefully...):<br />
<b> </b><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Technical abstract (for the scientist):</b></span> <br />
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<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 1em;">Polar tropospheric ozone depletion events (ODE) are an early springtime phenomena strongly correlated with increased concentrations of reactive bromine gases (BrO and Br), whereby Br serves as a catalysis in the breakdown of ozone into oxygen through a series of photochemical and heterogeneous reactions. This process involves the autocatalytic production of reactive bromine from bromide ions originating in the ocean, in what is termed the "bromine explosion." During an ODE, atmospheric oxidation potentials can be altered, with unique halogen oxidation pathways dominating atmospheric chemistry, resulting in consequences such as the depletion of gaseous mercury and subsequent mercury deposition in polar regions. However, the mechanism by which Br enters the troposphere is not well understood. Sea ice is known to play a critical role in mediating the exchange of heat, gases, and chemical species across the ocean-atmosphere interface. This research focuses on the transport of Br, which originates in sea water and is hypothesized to enter the atmosphere via blowing snow over first year sea ice. Using ion chromatography, x-ray micro-computed tomography, synchrotron x-ray micro-fluorescence, and scanning electron microscopy, we aim to identify the microstructural and stratigraphic location of Br and other salts in the snow and ice. Knowing whether these salts exist at grain boundaries or deeper within the crystal lattice help<span style="font-size: small;">s</span> assess the potential that blowing snow can loft Br into the atmosphere. With the ratio of first-year to multi-year sea ice increasing with climate change, understanding this mechanism is critical for assessing the impact of ODEs on future atmospheric chemistry.</span><br />
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<b>What that last paragraph actually said (for the layperson):</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQnWy0HShDpMZhjBDE9sagTkT7Lv_8_aSH6JqpT8Njgycr1eDk9wBXbR_WhFOZc9l3CS2jrB1hgtqJWSnq1i4MbxwydoWOgnsWlknTeEoUBSa0PnZSdIILAQHziG77KNutR7jNyHlUdLM/s1600/290.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQnWy0HShDpMZhjBDE9sagTkT7Lv_8_aSH6JqpT8Njgycr1eDk9wBXbR_WhFOZc9l3CS2jrB1hgtqJWSnq1i4MbxwydoWOgnsWlknTeEoUBSa0PnZSdIILAQHziG77KNutR7jNyHlUdLM/s320/290.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catching blowing snow</td></tr>
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During springtime (March in the north, Sept/Oct in the south), you often hear about the ozone hole in the upper atmosphere. A similar phenomenon occurs with the (much smaller amount of) ozone in the lower atmosphere, or troposphere. Salts from the ocean, such as bromine, get up into the atmosphere and help breakdown ozone into oxygen. Since only a small amount of bromine is needed to breakdown a lot of ozone, it is called the "bromine explosion." However, we don't really know the mechanism by which bromine enters the atmosphere. We do know that it requires really cold temperatures (lots of new sea ice) and sunlight (to kick-start the reaction), and hence only occurs during the first couple weeks of spring. To track the transport of bromine, I collect cores from the sea ice, snow lying on the ice, and samples of the blowing snow. We then measure the concentrations of the different salts in our samples and even take CaT scans of our ice to get a full 3-D picture of the ice microstructure. Since these ozone depletion events occur over first-year sea ice and climate change will result in more first-year sea ice, it is important to understand this process to predict the future implications for atmospheric chemistry. <br />
<br />
<b>In two sentences (elevator speech):</b><br />
I study how bromine (a salt in the ocean like chlorine or iodine) gets
from the ocean up into the atmosphere, where it contributes to ozone
depletion. Since we don't really know how the bromine gets into the atmosphere, I analyze sea ice cores and blowing snow to measure the amounts of different salts in my samples. <br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>When I try to explain it in a different language/sign language:</b><br />
Bromine from ocean into air. Lots of sea ice and flying snow. Bye-bye ozone.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>In two words:</b><br />
I study snow and ice<br />
<br />
<br />
If you are down this far, you are probably just looking for seal photos:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNw3395YR1nT4w7YFtxgdFlNiYjQFRrkVK1VyV_7N-i8lXAiNognifB2ghK3MW-S4AVGYtT862DwP_Efr3V66eExxSGco2M1TulNf1zphTCi2dheEzpaLbLTG-xBevs4WgbjodKwpmB0s/s1600/279.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNw3395YR1nT4w7YFtxgdFlNiYjQFRrkVK1VyV_7N-i8lXAiNognifB2ghK3MW-S4AVGYtT862DwP_Efr3V66eExxSGco2M1TulNf1zphTCi2dheEzpaLbLTG-xBevs4WgbjodKwpmB0s/s320/279.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinK7EIfZOFNX6V68hSn1T4y_wZCbey0LEaQo5x5uvmih6E-lK_pIFKWfO5saefkh81WEa3GTZfYahpcm6wUV5_Q34XeiyJ1yPpzfyRFrLsL6r_DFbbjHzr_mqGbnABdqBCKU84PIWg1VY/s1600/285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinK7EIfZOFNX6V68hSn1T4y_wZCbey0LEaQo5x5uvmih6E-lK_pIFKWfO5saefkh81WEa3GTZfYahpcm6wUV5_Q34XeiyJ1yPpzfyRFrLsL6r_DFbbjHzr_mqGbnABdqBCKU84PIWg1VY/s320/285.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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ross.lieb-lappen@dartmouth.eduhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16217340481636571668noreply@blogger.com2