In the last several years I have seen rather dramatic examples of how people have changed the environment. In the US, as I write, one of the worst oil spills ever is changing the Gulf of Mexico, deserts grow due to water consumption in the west, while in the east, mountains are removed to extract fossil fuels. I have often wondered…Can we change for the better? After traveling to Europe to participate with the Lake E science conference, I wanted to share a few of my observations from Germany.
Can we turn off the lights? YES! Actually it took me a while to figure out how to turn on the lights in our hotel. After trying all the light switches multiple times, I noticed a slot near the room door indicating that the hotel room key should be placed in the slot. When I did this, all the...
As I write the temperature outside is -81 F! This time I am writing from 40,000 ft … our flight has successfully crossed the Atlantic and we are flying over eastern Canada. I checked the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Center this morning before we left and I was pleased to see that the ash cloud had dissipated. As I reflect on yesterday, I can say that it was another successful day at the Lake E conference.
Leading project scientists, Julie Brigham Grette and Martin Melles
Scientifically the day was quite productive. The main goal of Saturday was to coordinate the further scientific work on the project. After the cores have been scanned and split, one half is scheduled to be preserved while the remaining half is to be divided into more than nine different sub-samples for further analysis....
I spent the day yesterday learning more about Lake E science. One of the things I found very interesting about the Lake E project from day one was the variety of people who were interested in the project. This project not only involves, but depends on scientists from many different disciplines each contributing to describing the big picture of this special environment. Yesterday at the conference several presentations summarized the research that has begun on the core samples. We also had presentations about the first science results from the Impact rock research, Paleomagnetism, Pollen studies, Diatom studies, General geology and geochemistry of the sediments, how modern weather records may be used to understand the lake history and finally how all of these different climate proxies may...
Germany morning of day three… Our luggage arrived yesterday so we have clean clothes!
In the last two days I have seen more bikes and Smart cars than I have seen in a long time!
Bicycles are common transportation in Cologne
Yesterday I spent most of the day at the University. Throughout the day, scientists with whom I worked at Lake E arrived. It was great to see familiar faces and friends from the US, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, and Canada. It was also rewarding to meet many of the scientists with whom I have communicated but had yet to meet in person.
In the afternoon I gave a presentation to students and others at the University (including a number of members of the Lake E team) about the expedition and how I have been teaching some of the science that I learned through the...
We have arrived in Germany! Unfortunately our luggage has not! Oh well… at least this time I am not dependant on lots of heavy clothing for survival. Of course with Eyjafallajokull, the Icelandic Volcano we almost did not make it. As we flew across the English Channel this AM I was able to see a high altitude brown haze on the horizon which according to the London VAAC must have been the ash plum.
East coast of England with volcanic ash cloud.
After our arrival we checked into our hotel then walked down to the University of Cologne. This was a wonderful time to meet a few new people and renew acquaintances with many of my friends from Lake E. Since the conference does not get underway until tomorrow, Elaine and I walked through the historic section of downtown Cologne. We walked under...
In the last year not a day has passed that I have not found myself reflecting on the incredible adventure to Lake El’gygytgyn. This experience continues to influence my life and my classroom in numerous ways. Although it has been a little over a year since my return from Lake E, this week marks a new chapter in my expedition. I have traded in my heavy ECWG parka for a white lab coat! Julie and the other members of the science team invited me to participate in the 5th International Lake El’gygytgyn Workshop to be held at the University of Cologne. Polar TREC has generously agreed to fund my on-going participation with the Lake El’gygytgyn Project.
While in Siberia, our primary goal was to drill and extract the lake sediments and impact breccias. Although some initial measurements were...
For those of you who have been following regularly... today I am posting this journal from a broad-band internet connection! I made it to Moscow! I just took my first shower in a month! I also called home via skype read some email and now I need to pack my bags one last time before I leave Russia. I am a little disappointed that I did not get to see Red Square and other sites in Moscow, but at this point, I am happy to be headed home. I have 4 hours in the hotel Salut before I fly out again... After flying from Pevek to Sergut, Sergut to Moscow, I will fly Moscow to London, London to Chicago, Chicago to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Greensboro!!!!It is hard for me to write this without getting a little emotional... It has been such a privilege for me to join this expedition!...
After a long day waiting yesterday, we got word that the plane that was cancelled yesterday was coming today... very fortunate for us, the expedition, and the town of Pevek. Normally in the wintertime, the plane from Moscow only comes once every two weeks. As many of you are reading this I will be in the air somewhere between Pevek and Moscow.
For Pevek, fresh food is getting scarce, on the last shopping trip no fruit was to be found and vegetables were all looking very wilted. For the expedition, the replacement parts for the drilling operation are on the way. And for us we are on our way home.
So why did I come? For science, education, adventure... I found all that and much more. Although at this point I have no idea if I will ever return to Siberia, if given the opportunity, I would...
According to plan, at this point, I should have been in the air between Pevek and Moscow.
This morning I went to shower so I would feel a little better on the long flight from Pevek to Moscow. When I returned to the room, I learned the disappointing news that our plane never left Moscow...consequently we had no plane for the return trip. Now my return flights to the US will also need to be re-booked.
The temperature is dropping which is good for the work at the lake.
Unfortunately, because of another worn part on the drill rig, the drilling at the lake has stopped until replacement parts are delivered with the flight from Moscow.
Such is the pace of life working in the Siberian Arctic.
Today I worked on editing and reducing my collection of over two thousand digital images from this...
A frequent question before I left was; What will it be like to work on a large international expedition? There is so much to say in this regard. A neat symbol of the expedition and continual reminder of our international group was the flagpole beside the office and lab. Once all the country colors were raised, It was interesting to see the number of times when crew members or scientists in camp would stop and pause for a moment as they looked at the colors!
The international expedition flags extend in the arctic wind at Camp El'gygytgyn
Another fun example of the mix of culture was visible in the foot ware. This was particularly noticeable in Pevek before we went to the lake. I was amazed at how the local residents navigate icy streets and stairs while wearing stylish boots and...
Today is Easter Sunday here in Russia. A quiet day here with many of our group sleeping late. I will be here in Pevek two more days before I fly to Moscow. I have edited several more videos that I recorded while at the lake. The first video is another in my series of conversations with Julie. Following up yesterday's video about measurements in the physical properties laboratory, in this video, Julie discusses some of the first science results from the lake.
Here is another that Julie and I had fun discussing and I had fun putting together... This really should have been posted on April 1st , but, because of the earlier delays, we were not yet at the lake. In addition,...
Here is another of my stories from the camp, a tour of the Physical Properties Measurement Laboratory. In the lab, we measure various properties of the sediment cores to collect an initial set of data from the cores as soon as the cores are brought back into camp. We measure temperature, diameter, seismic properties and magnetic properties. We were hoping to measure the density of the sediment, but the instrument used for this needs a small amount of radioactive material. Due to Russian import regulations, we were not able to transport this measuring instrument into the country. The measurement lab is run by Catalina Gebhardt and assisting her with her work is Carsten Meyer-Jacobs, both from Germany. Although both communicate in excellent English, they were a little hesitant to narrate...
Today has been a bittersweet day...I did not go out to the rig, but instead packed my bags while waiting for the arrival of the helicopter to begin my long voyage home.
Although I am now writing from Pevek, my story is far from over. There are more stories I want to share. (Particularly now that I am back to a slightly higher speed internet connection!)
For starters, I have been working on several more videos to introduce you to a bit more of the work I have been doing for the last several weeks. If you have been following along you were introduced to Drilling 101 back on April 5th. That video showed the drilling basics of tripping pipe and the work from the perspective of a driller. Once we started drilling for sediment, the science team shifted into high gear. Here are two videos from...
My time here at the lake is winding down. If the weather holds, and it looks like it will, the helicopter will come and I will fly out tomorrow.
Out on the rig, the down-hole logging team is recording another hundred meters of the borehole, so many of us from the day shift stayed back in camp today. I spent some time in the core logging laboratory. Volker Wennerich, from Germany showed me some of the diatoms in the lake sediments.
Volker Wennreich of Germany examines lake sediment under a microscope in the camp laboratory
Diatoms are microscopic animals with tests (hard shells) made of silica. The number and kind of diatoms in the sediment is a good indicator of the past climate history of the lake. In times when the lake was warm with more nutrients, there were more diatoms, in...
As I write I am out on the drilling platform, the drilling crew is working on a repair so the drilling has temporarily been paused. The wind is really picking up so I don't think I will go out for a walk... So now is a good time to tell you about yesterday afternoon. I went out to the rig with the lunch bus because of working the previous night. When I arrived, everyone was really working hard. The transition to the narrow diameter pipe was clearly a good decision, earlier our core recovery percentage was not as good, but all morning, the drillers were achieving a near 100% recovery. This was great news continued on into the afternoon. I was helping cut, measure and catalog the core samples as they came "on-deck". Around five in the evening, we noticed a few strange light...
After arriving at Lake E, I promised Addie Holland and Kristina Brady that I would go out with them to the rig for the night shift one night. I kept postponing this until they were about ready to give up on me. Finally last night everything seemed to work for my schedule.... well everything except for sleep. I was supposed to get back to camp early yesterday so that I could get a nap before dinner and catch the 7:30 crew change bus to the rig. Unfotunately, I never saw the afternoon nap...We were optimistic when we arrived because the day shift started a successful run of coring with the new small diameter pipe. Unfortunately, a bent drill pipe made our first job of the night "tripping-out" the pipe. When over 450 meters of pipe need to be raised to the surface, that takes...
After one night in the igloo, the bed felt pretty good last night... I just did not spend enough time in it! The down-hole loggers finished their work around mid-night so the night shift started preparing the rig for switching to the narrow diameter pipe.
When I arrived with the morning crew, the pipe rack was loaded down with the HQ pipe. The first job of the day was to "trip-in" all the narrow diameter pipe. The larger diameter PQ pipe will stay in the hole as a protective casing while we are drilling with the narrower HQ pipe. By lunch time the HQ was down in the bore hole and we were ready to start drilling again.
I came back with the lunch bus as it is my intention to go back out on the platform with the night shift... I suppose if I can survive the night in the igloo, I should be...
Happy Easter to every one back home... Here in Russia, Easter will be celebrated next week!
I have been working on a series of videos... conversations with Julie Brigham-Grette about Lake E, geology, wildlife and our project. Here is the first... a description of our location here at Lake E.
I was late getting up this morning and I almost missed the tundra bus that was to take the day shift out to the drilling platform... (more on that later) When I got out to the rig, I was helping measure and document the sediment cores that we were extracting. It is so exciting to see the sediments that have been buried in the lake for more than 2 million years! The deeper we drill,...
Today was another full day out here at Lake E. On the drill rig we recovered more sediment cores today than many of the previous days. As I mentioned yesterday on one of the Ask the team questions, I've been occupied with many different activities. Yesterday I built a wooden cabinet for one of the water pumps. This simple task was considerably more difficult here at the lake. As with many construction projects, we had to make several trips to the hardware store... except at Lake E where can you go? Fortunately, the crew has anticipated such needs and we brought several containers loaded with hardware. These containers had what we needed and we successfully completed the project.
The Lake E Hardware store...Hopefully someone planned for everything that we need.
Nuts and bolts,...
I wanted to share the video about ice safety. If you read yesterday's post, I told you about working with Volker Neth our German-Canadian Ice engineer. Here he is in his own words describing work on the ice platform.
It was good to talk with many of you this morning... THANK YOU for your patience. As you could see with the 8 or 10 (I lost count) dropped phone calls, communication from here at the lake is very difficult. I am glad that many of you were able to hold on. If you have a question that you did not get the opportunity to ask during the web-cast, please log on to the "Ask the Team" part of this web site.
Tim managing computers and satellite phone for the webcast...
Today has been a busy day... and fortunately, for all the activity, the weather has been spectacular. Not a cloud in the sky and temperature around 0 F. I can't believe how warm it was today.
The science team all gathered in the dining room for a meeting to discuss the plan of the day.
The major activity in the middle of the day was the scheduled helicopter flight... so the day shift did not go out to the rig. This was actually a good thing because the night shift ran out of drilling mud...(a special type of clay called bentonite is used to lubricate the drill hole) So in the morning many of the science team caught up on emails and paper work as we waited for the arrival of the helicopter. A little after Noon, the sound of the helicopter was heard in camp and we all went out to...
LIVE FROM IPY EVENT COMMING SOON!! WE WANT TO TALK TO YOU!
Today was another logging day out on the drilling platform. Because of the continued difficulty extracting sediment, it is very important that we have measurements from the down-hole logging team. Since we have reached a sediment depth of approximately 200 meters, the German logging team was scheduled to drop their probes down the borehole today.
Lead American scientist Julie Brigham-Grette discusses the down hole logging with Jochem Kuck
Julie Brigham-Grette and Pavel Minyuk pause for a picture on the drill rig.
I mentioned in the journal yesterday, that if something breaks, it is important to have enough equipment and tools and the right people to fix the problem. I saw that process in action today. The other day, one of...
LIVE FROM IPY EVENT COMMING SOON!! WE WANT TO TALK TO YOU!I spent a good part of the day out on the drill rig again... the longer I am here, the more I learn and the more useful I can be. Whether turning pipe wrenches, cleaning the floor, or packing the sediment cores, there are many jobs on the drill rig.
As I learned before I came, the Lake El'gygytgyn drilling project, is the most northern drilling project ever undertaken. I often wondered... Why is this project so unique? For one thing, it is very difficult working out on the middle of a frozen lake in the middle of the Siberian tundra. If equipment breaks, we hope someone can fix it, because there is no repairperson to call. If a part needs to be replaced, we hope someone anticipated the problem and brought a spare... there...
Since the US team arrived in camp the weather has been spectacular, the air has been clear and calm. Well, change is in the wind. Finally, around lunchtime today, we were pleased to see that the flags that represent most of the participating countries flying high in the Arctic wind.
The Arctic wind lifts the colors of the participating nations... and my flags!
As the day went on, the winds have steadily increased. With a strong north wind blowing, the down-hole logging team finishing their 30 hour run of measurements, Volker Neth and I went out to survey the ice road on the vestikhot. For the first time since arriving, I can say I was really cold... riding on top (not inside!) of a vestikhot at 25 mph at -20 F is COLD!!! The batteries in my video camera were freezing, so I was holding...
Today was a day for scientific logging of the borehole. Because of the earlier problems we want to continue the scientific study with extra care. We have retrieved sediment cores to a depth of approximately 150 meters below the lake bottom (320 meters below the ice). Since the drilling has once again encountered sandy sediments, which are difficult to drill, the science team decided yesterday to log the drill hole to be sure and acquire a complete record of the sediments we have already extracted. What does it mean to log the hole? The whole reason for drilling the sediments in Lake E is to learn about the past climate history of the Arctic regions. We can learn about the climate by studying different physical properties of the sediments. Some of the properties that we measure...
