Wow! What a week! I'm here at the Westmark Hotel, in Fairbanks, Alaska are in the middle of our 2010 Orientation and ShareFair. It's been very exciting to meet all the new teachers and see how they are adjusting to the fact that they will soon be heading out to the Polar Regions.
It's been a very exciting year for us as we received 4 years of funding from the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs to continue PolarTREC for another 4 years! We look forward to continuing offering research experiences for teachers with polar researchers both in the Arctic and Antarctic. We also are excited that we'll have time to rework the interface for the users of the PolarTREC website and additional activities and tools to make the experience richer for all involved...
Most people’s vision of "scientists” is men in white lab coats. On the Healy, the only people wearing white coats are the "seal team”—a group of four men and one woman from the National Marine Mammals Laboratory, based in Seattle, Washington. They are a very fun group to be around but then again, I’m biased as one of my first "off-ramps” in life was working with Pacific Walrus. So, anyone that works with Pinnipeds (seals and walrus) must be fun. We had a special treat yesterday and got to watch the seal team spring into action and head out to sea to catch seals.
Here are the members of the seal team. From left to right, Mike Cameron, Gavin Brady, Mike Apatiki (from Gambell), Shawn Dahle, and Erin Moreland (bottom right).
Mike Cameron, lead researcher on the seal team.
Gavin Brady,...
Most people’s vision of "scientists” is men in white lab coats. On the Healy, the only people wearing white coats are the "seal team”—a group of four men and one woman from the National Marine Mammals Laboratory, based in Seattle, Washington. They are a very fun group to be around but then again, I’m biased as one of my first "off-ramps” in life was working with Pacific Walrus. So, anyone that works with Pinnipeds (seals and walrus) must be fun. We had a special treat yesterday and got to watch the seal team spring into action and head out to sea to catch seals.
Here are the members of the seal team. From left to right, Mike Cameron, Gavin Brady, Mike Apatiki (from Gambell), Shawn Dahle, and Erin Moreland (bottom right).
Mike Cameron, lead researcher on the seal team.
Gavin Brady,...
Most people’s vision of "scientists” is men in white lab coats. On the Healy, the only people wearing white coats are the "seal team”—a group of four men and one woman from the National Marine Mammals Laboratory, based in Seattle, Washington. They are a very fun group to be around but then again, I’m biased as one of my first "off-ramps” in life was working with Pacific Walrus. So, anyone that works with Pinnipeds (seals and walrus) must be fun. We had a special treat yesterday and got to watch the seal team spring into action and head out to sea to catch seals.
Here are the members of the seal team. From left to right, Mike Cameron, Gavin Brady, Mike Apatiki (from Gambell), Shawn Dahle, and Erin Moreland (bottom right).
Mike Cameron, lead researcher on the seal team.
Gavin Brady,...
Most people’s vision of "scientists” is men in white lab coats. On the Healy, the only people wearing white coats are the "seal team”—a group of four men and one woman from the National Marine Mammals Laboratory, based in Seattle, Washington. They are a very fun group to be around but then again, I’m biased as one of my first "off-ramps” in life was working with Pacific Walrus. So, anyone that works with Pinnipeds (seals and walrus) must be fun. We had a special treat yesterday and got to watch the seal team spring into action and head out to sea to catch seals.
Here are the members of the seal team. From left to right, Mike Cameron, Gavin Brady, Mike Apatiki (from Gambell), Shawn Dahle, and Erin Moreland (bottom right).
Mike Cameron, lead researcher on the seal team.
Gavin Brady,...
Most people’s vision of "scientists” is men in white lab coats. On the Healy, the only people wearing white coats are the "seal team”—a group of four men and one woman from the National Marine Mammals Laboratory, based in Seattle, Washington. They are a very fun group to be around but then again, I’m biased as one of my first "off-ramps” in life was working with Pacific Walrus. So, anyone that works with Pinnipeds (seals and walrus) must be fun. We had a special treat yesterday and got to watch the seal team spring into action and head out to sea to catch seals.
Here are the members of the seal team. From left to right, Mike Cameron, Gavin Brady, Mike Apatiki (from Gambell), Shawn Dahle, and Erin Moreland (bottom right).
Mike Cameron, lead researcher on the seal team.
Gavin Brady,...
Science aboard the Healy is not just random. With Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier, the research plan takes shape and becomes a coordinated effort so that everyone aboard the ship can conduct his or her research. A well-planned effort is needed since the ship is expensive to operate (I heard about $40/minute…yes, a minute!)
Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier
For this particular cruise, most of the research projects are conducted at stations – or specific pre-determined points in the Bering Sea. The ship has a chart of all the stations (over 100) and they work their way from one station to the next in sequence. Stations can be very far apart or close together. Once the ship at a station, the team working that shift goes to work and begins to collect samples that they will analyze...
Science aboard the Healy is not just random. With Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier, the research plan takes shape and becomes a coordinated effort so that everyone aboard the ship can conduct his or her research. A well-planned effort is needed since the ship is expensive to operate (I heard about $40/minute…yes, a minute!)
Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier
For this particular cruise, most of the research projects are conducted at stations – or specific pre-determined points in the Bering Sea. The ship has a chart of all the stations (over 100) and they work their way from one station to the next in sequence. Stations can be very far apart or close together. Once the ship at a station, the team working that shift goes to work and begins to collect samples that they will analyze...
Science aboard the Healy is not just random. With Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier, the research plan takes shape and becomes a coordinated effort so that everyone aboard the ship can conduct his or her research. A well-planned effort is needed since the ship is expensive to operate (I heard about $40/minute…yes, a minute!)
Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier
For this particular cruise, most of the research projects are conducted at stations – or specific pre-determined points in the Bering Sea. The ship has a chart of all the stations (over 100) and they work their way from one station to the next in sequence. Stations can be very far apart or close together. Once the ship at a station, the team working that shift goes to work and begins to collect samples that they will analyze...
Science aboard the Healy is not just random. With Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier, the research plan takes shape and becomes a coordinated effort so that everyone aboard the ship can conduct his or her research. A well-planned effort is needed since the ship is expensive to operate (I heard about $40/minute…yes, a minute!)
Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier
For this particular cruise, most of the research projects are conducted at stations – or specific pre-determined points in the Bering Sea. The ship has a chart of all the stations (over 100) and they work their way from one station to the next in sequence. Stations can be very far apart or close together. Once the ship at a station, the team working that shift goes to work and begins to collect samples that they will analyze...
Science aboard the Healy is not just random. With Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier, the research plan takes shape and becomes a coordinated effort so that everyone aboard the ship can conduct his or her research. A well-planned effort is needed since the ship is expensive to operate (I heard about $40/minute…yes, a minute!)
Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier
For this particular cruise, most of the research projects are conducted at stations – or specific pre-determined points in the Bering Sea. The ship has a chart of all the stations (over 100) and they work their way from one station to the next in sequence. Stations can be very far apart or close together. Once the ship at a station, the team working that shift goes to work and begins to collect samples that they will analyze...
Science aboard the Healy is not just random. With Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier, the research plan takes shape and becomes a coordinated effort so that everyone aboard the ship can conduct his or her research. A well-planned effort is needed since the ship is expensive to operate (I heard about $40/minute…yes, a minute!)
Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier
For this particular cruise, most of the research projects are conducted at stations – or specific pre-determined points in the Bering Sea. The ship has a chart of all the stations (over 100) and they work their way from one station to the next in sequence. Stations can be very far apart or close together. Once the ship at a station, the team working that shift goes to work and begins to collect samples that they will analyze...
Sometime late Friday afternoon, a man in an orange suit just "suddenly” appeared at the Gambell lodge. Vince, the helicopter manager for the Healy, was there to pick several of us from Gambell and whisk us away to the Healy – someplace offshore about 50 miles south of the community. I was going with three other people: Kathy Turco (Alaska’s Spirit Speaks: Sound & Science), Art Howard (a videographer with Polar-Palooza), and Bobby Ungwiluk (a senior at John Apangalook School). We went with Vince to the airport and waited for our ride. The helicopter had already made one flight from Savoonga (the other community on the island) to the ship with Perry Pungowiyi – a whaling and walrus captain from Savoonga. As we waited for the helicopter, members of the community came out to see why...
Sometime late Friday afternoon, a man in an orange suit just "suddenly” appeared at the Gambell lodge. Vince, the helicopter manager for the Healy, was there to pick several of us from Gambell and whisk us away to the Healy – someplace offshore about 50 miles south of the community. I was going with three other people: Kathy Turco (Alaska’s Spirit Speaks: Sound & Science), Art Howard (a videographer with Polar-Palooza), and Bobby Ungwiluk (a senior at John Apangalook School). We went with Vince to the airport and waited for our ride. The helicopter had already made one flight from Savoonga (the other community on the island) to the ship with Perry Pungowiyi – a whaling and walrus captain from Savoonga. As we waited for the helicopter, members of the community came out to see why...
Sometime late Friday afternoon, a man in an orange suit just "suddenly” appeared at the Gambell lodge. Vince, the helicopter manager for the Healy, was there to pick several of us from Gambell and whisk us away to the Healy – someplace offshore about 50 miles south of the community. I was going with three other people: Kathy Turco (Alaska’s Spirit Speaks: Sound & Science), Art Howard (a videographer with Polar-Palooza), and Bobby Ungwiluk (a senior at John Apangalook School). We went with Vince to the airport and waited for our ride. The helicopter had already made one flight from Savoonga (the other community on the island) to the ship with Perry Pungowiyi – a whaling and walrus captain from Savoonga. As we waited for the helicopter, members of the community came out to see why...
Sometime late Friday afternoon, a man in an orange suit just "suddenly” appeared at the Gambell lodge. Vince, the helicopter manager for the Healy, was there to pick several of us from Gambell and whisk us away to the Healy – someplace offshore about 50 miles south of the community. I was going with three other people: Kathy Turco (Alaska’s Spirit Speaks: Sound & Science), Art Howard (a videographer with Polar-Palooza), and Bobby Ungwiluk (a senior at John Apangalook School). We went with Vince to the airport and waited for our ride. The helicopter had already made one flight from Savoonga (the other community on the island) to the ship with Perry Pungowiyi – a whaling and walrus captain from Savoonga. As we waited for the helicopter, members of the community came out to see why...
Sometime late Friday afternoon, a man in an orange suit just "suddenly” appeared at the Gambell lodge. Vince, the helicopter manager for the Healy, was there to pick several of us from Gambell and whisk us away to the Healy – someplace offshore about 50 miles south of the community. I was going with three other people: Kathy Turco (Alaska’s Spirit Speaks: Sound & Science), Art Howard (a videographer with Polar-Palooza), and Bobby Ungwiluk (a senior at John Apangalook School). We went with Vince to the airport and waited for our ride. The helicopter had already made one flight from Savoonga (the other community on the island) to the ship with Perry Pungowiyi – a whaling and walrus captain from Savoonga. As we waited for the helicopter, members of the community came out to see why...
Whenever I travel, I like to learn as much as I can about a place before I go. This is so I don’t spend so much time trying to learn the basics and can really learn more about the "place”. Consequently, our bookshelf at home is filled with various guide books, reference books, and maps about places that I have traveled to and/or places that I dream about going too J When I learned that I was going to return to Gambell, I dug out my old map of St. Lawrence Island and did a Google search on the community. All this was an effort to re-acquaint myself with Gambell. As we were flying in from Nome, I tried to locate various houses and structures as landmarks. Turns out that it was futile since Gambell has grown since the 90’s and there are new structures everywhere and they all look the...
Whenever I travel, I like to learn as much as I can about a place before I go. This is so I don’t spend so much time trying to learn the basics and can really learn more about the "place”. Consequently, our bookshelf at home is filled with various guide books, reference books, and maps about places that I have traveled to and/or places that I dream about going too J When I learned that I was going to return to Gambell, I dug out my old map of St. Lawrence Island and did a Google search on the community. All this was an effort to re-acquaint myself with Gambell. As we were flying in from Nome, I tried to locate various houses and structures as landmarks. Turns out that it was futile since Gambell has grown since the 90’s and there are new structures everywhere and they all look the...
Whenever I travel, I like to learn as much as I can about a place before I go. This is so I don’t spend so much time trying to learn the basics and can really learn more about the "place”. Consequently, our bookshelf at home is filled with various guide books, reference books, and maps about places that I have traveled to and/or places that I dream about going too J When I learned that I was going to return to Gambell, I dug out my old map of St. Lawrence Island and did a Google search on the community. All this was an effort to re-acquaint myself with Gambell. As we were flying in from Nome, I tried to locate various houses and structures as landmarks. Turns out that it was futile since Gambell has grown since the 90’s and there are new structures everywhere and they all look the...
Yesterday afternoon, I boarded a small twin-engine plane along with a little girl, her mother, and about 700 pounds of freight and departed Nome for St. Lawrence Island. We headed southwest – straight out from Nome – across the now open ocean. Looking down into the big blue, I can tell that the sea ice was only here just a week or so ago as there are still little ice chunks bobbing in the waves below. I searched for marine mammals along our route but didn’t see any. After awhile, I took a snooze as it takes about an hour to get to Gambell. When I woke up, I see St. Lawrence Island to my left. It is still covered with some snow and to my right I see sea ice again. Beyond the sea ice I see mountains and the coastline of Siberia! As we approach the island, I recognize a large cliff...
Early morning – got up at 5AM and headed to the airport to catch Frontier Airlines for Nome. After two hours and a few winks, I’m now here in Nome. I was scheduled to catch a flight from Nome to Gambell at 1PM but that has already been delayed until 3PM. This brings back memories of earlier years when I used to fly out to remote communities – such as Gambell, Savoonga, Wales, and Diomede – when I worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Bad weather, namely fog, hinders travel and can keep communities such as Gambell hidden for days on end. In the past, I spent many days in Nome trying to get out to these communities. I hope that won’t be the case for me today – so far I see partly cloudy skies.
You can get a better sense of where I am and where I’m going with this map of...
Early morning – got up at 5AM and headed to the airport to catch Frontier Airlines for Nome. After two hours and a few winks, I’m now here in Nome. I was scheduled to catch a flight from Nome to Gambell at 1PM but that has already been delayed until 3PM. This brings back memories of earlier years when I used to fly out to remote communities – such as Gambell, Savoonga, Wales, and Diomede – when I worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Bad weather, namely fog, hinders travel and can keep communities such as Gambell hidden for days on end. In the past, I spent many days in Nome trying to get out to these communities. I hope that won’t be the case for me today – so far I see partly cloudy skies.
You can get a better sense of where I am and where I’m going with this map of...
What a week! Most everyone at ARCUS is off in Washington D.C. at the Arctic Forum. The office is REALLY quiet – just three of us here now – clicking away at our computer keyboards and answering the phone. This morning we hosted a Live from IPY! event with Jo Dodds and Mary Albert in Summit, Greenland. Despite some technical difficulties – all went well and the presentation was awesome! Way to go Jo!
ARCUS Staff, Tina and Kristin, prepare for a Live from IPY! event with the Healy.
ARCUS Staff, Tina and Kristin, preparing for a Live from IPY! event
Anyway, now that the event is complete – I need to focus on preparing to leave this Thursday for the Bering Sea. (Is that really only two days away!?) I will be boarding the icebreaker Healy for one week and working with researchers on the...
What a week! Most everyone at ARCUS is off in Washington D.C. at the Arctic Forum. The office is REALLY quiet – just three of us here now – clicking away at our computer keyboards and answering the phone. This morning we hosted a Live from IPY! event with Jo Dodds and Mary Albert in Summit, Greenland. Despite some technical difficulties – all went well and the presentation was awesome! Way to go Jo!
ARCUS Staff, Tina and Kristin, prepare for a Live from IPY! event with the Healy.
ARCUS Staff, Tina and Kristin, preparing for a Live from IPY! event
Anyway, now that the event is complete – I need to focus on preparing to leave this Thursday for the Bering Sea. (Is that really only two days away!?) I will be boarding the icebreaker Healy for one week and working with researchers on the...
