22 July 2008 Divide and conquer!

The skies were a little more accommodating for field work today, including lake work which requires calm waters for the boat. We awoke to the news that there was a polar bear at a beach in the area feeding on a dead shark. This put us on a higher safety alert to ensure the field safety of everyone. Everyone had their eyes focused on the open plain of the tundra, and we carried three rifles, three flare guns, and multiple forms of communication with us. Of course we carry these instruments with us every day in the field, but as mentioned we needed to be totally aware of our surroundings at all times.Once we arrived at the lake the Svalbard REU team divided up and went their separate ways today in order to start their individual projects. Up at Lake Kongress, three students surveyed the lake surroundings to get a better feel for where they want to take samples. Another group of three students took the Paulin System Altimeter to begin mapping the area and at the Little Ice Age moraine of the Linne GlacierA mass of ice that persists for many years and notably deforms and flows under the influence of gravity. to learn how to use the instrument and also to get a better feel for their study areas. The third team stayed at the lake to accomplish a couple of tasks: to remove moorings with either sediment traps or sensors tethered, and to practice using the "Troll" which gathers a number of different parameters of data while being lowered into the lake. By 5PM were all at the boats ready for our trip back to the field station.

Back to the safety topic... each team had a rifle, a flare gun, and a form of communication with them, and we were required to touch base with each other every hour. Maintaining contact with each other every hour was a little fun as well as a way to ask necessary questions.

Views of the day & challenge of the day: Note the clouds spilling over the mountain in the above image. How/why does this happen?