Home. I arrived at RDU about 10:30PM Friday night. My husband and I hugged, my sons carried my luggage and my daughter did not let go of my hand for a long time. I slept for 2 days, awoke Monday morning and went to school. I met my advisory for the first time.
I met my classes. I talked about vertebrates and barrier islands. I packed for the beach trip. I went to Pine Knoll Shores, North Carolina for 4 days with 95 8th graders. We learned about shore ecology and about each other.
Upon returning to school, I learned that my classroom had been broken into and 7 computers stolen. My laptop, with all my PolarTREC expedition pictures was mysteriously left behind. (For the record, I had backed up my computer the Friday before. ) So what did I do? I put my expedition training to...
LSSL Ship's Log: 19082008
2209- Rosette secured on board. Underway to Kugluktuk, 485 nautical miles.
At 2210 on 19 Aug 2008, Third Mate Marian Punch piped, "We have finished work at the last science station. We are going home."
After 32 days at sea, we are coming home. We have seen and done some amazing things. I have experienced so many "firsts" that I cannot list them all.
Thank you to Rick Krishfield of WHOI who applied for a PolarTREC teacher, giving me the opportunity to join him on this expedition. Thank you to Rick, Will and Jim for allowing me to join them on the deck and on the ice. I can now rechain glass balls, thanks to Will and Jim.
Thank you to the officers and crew of the LSSL for taking the time to explain the ship and let me take their...
After taking on fuel we are steaming to our last set of stations at 72N, 133W. This route will be through the last ice of the cruise.
I am fascinated by the ice so I am spending the last hours possible observing the ice. Many have remarked on how much less ice there is up here compared to recent years. I want to be sure I see all I can.
This journal has two short movies about ice.
So long, for now, from the ice-breaker LSSL!
Breaking Ice
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Water and Ice at 75N / 150W
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We have been here at 69N, 133W waiting for the fuel barge for the past 24 hours. It is late. While it is frustrating to have to wait, this situation reminds us that it is not worth getting worked up over something we cannot control. We use the time to catch up on data analysis and to pack.
Finally the barge arrives. While watching the fuel barge hook up might not be so fascinating under normal circumstances, we have been waiting for it, and it offers something new in the landscape.
The barge is tied up to the side of the ship
We take on approximately 2 million liters of fuel. It is delivered at 120 cubic liters per hour (1200 liters) and we took on 2 million liters. The fuel is piped in to the ship to the fuel manifold which diverts the flow to one of 14 tanks. Icebreakers...
We are currently anchored at 69.50N, 133.12W waiting for a fuel barge. It is calm with broken clouds, a perfect time to go up top to the Crows Nest.
Before electronics, ship navigation was done by sight. One person stayed up in the crow's nest, a platform or barrel attached to the main mast, to keep watch. In rough seas, the Crow's Nest moves quite a bit. Think of a pendulum-- the ship is the base and the Crow's Nest is the bob, moving back and forth, back and forth. In rough weather, this swing can be really severe, up to 90 degrees (45 degrees off each side of the vertical) as well as front-to-back movement.
Hazards such as ice and other ships were best spotted from here. Before radio, the watch keeper used hand signals, or just yelled. The invention of the speaking tube...
After sampling at 72.36N, 144.42W, the LSSL began a 16-hour 293 km steam south to meet a refueling barge. This break in the science work gave everyone time to take breath after the frenetic pace of the past weeks.
Even though we are now receiving satellite TV and are enjoying the Olympics, we decided that we need to stage an event ourselves.
Presenting the LSSL Intergalactic Olympics- The Heli Deck High Dive. The object was to drop a Diver (a small test tube) from the Bridge deck into a red bucket on the flight deck.
The Try-Athelon competition included a clever timed Pandora's Box competition: objects that had to be put together to match the picture on the lid. One person could actually do the assembling but could receive any verbal instructions.
The co-pilot seat...
This morning is sunny and COLD.
WHOI is deploying its last mooring.
The key instrument on the mooring is the McLane Moored Profiler (MMP).
This alien-looking device spends the year in the cold, cold Arctic waters, traveling up and down over 2000 meters of the water column. The MMP has several sensors that measure or calculate the big three in oceanography: conductivity, temperature and depth (please see 11 Aug Journal entry for a complete CTD discussion). The MMP also measures water velocity using a doppler system housed in the 3-pronged black sensor located in its back.
The top float is moored 40 meters below the surface so that ice ridges, which can extend for many meters below, do not bump into the mooring. This depth is also an excellent spot to place an upward-looking...
SUN, with clouds, fog and wind in the late afterno
We are at Mooring Station D. Here WHOI will recover and deploy a mooring, and the science program will do several Rosette casts, some pump lines, Bongo nets and X-CTDs.
We are treated to more sun!
Second Mate Carol Dunfield who has the Bridge watch from midnight to 4AM, reports that the sun dipped below the horizon last night.
Tonight I will be up from midnight to about 3AM to collect water samples from the Rosette so I will have a great opportunity to see my first Arctic sun set!
Because the Earth is tilted on its axis, in the Arctic the sun does not appear to "set" in the summer, or "rise" in the winter.
Questions: How many degrees is the tilt? How should you alter this figure to describe conditions at the South Pole?
Because we are now traveling south...
Today is our last trip out on to the ice. WHOI is deploying their last ITP, Dave Meldrum is putting in his third SAMS-IMBS and Alice & Kristina are directing an ice-sampling team. The day starts out *warm and sunny* (OK, the air temperature is 2C. This is the Arctic after all).
After the ITP hole is drilled, Sarah Zimmermann puts a CTD down the hole to profile the water under the ice. They are interested in the *freshwater content* of this water. To them, freshwater does not mean "drinking water" but instead water of lower salinity that comes from ice melting.
It is difficult to sample this surface layer from the ship because the ship is moving around and mixing this water up. One of the results to come out of the multi-year BGE project is that the freshwater...
Because the parameters of conductivity, temperature and depth are so important in oceanographic study, scientists are constantly testing ways to measure it more frequently and more accurately.
One interesting technique uses the X-CTD. This is a small CTD sensing device that is *shot* from the ship into the water. As the sensor sinks into the water, it sends its readings back up a very thin line to a computer on board.
The X-CTD project on board is run by Shigeto Nishino of JAMSTEC in Japan. The goal of his project is to map the distribution of different water masses throughout the Canada Basin in order to understand the general ocean circulation here. He is especially interested in the nutrient-rich water that moves along the continental shelf because this water is essential for...
By reading these journals, I hope that you have developed an appreciation for how science is done out here. The sense of scale is hard to imagine-- everything is so BIG. The dip nets are Bongos, water sampling is by Rosette, mooring buoys weight 2500 pounds, holes are made with 10" augers, our arms are replaced with cranes and winches and engines. And all of this is done outside in the Arctic, where both air and water temperatures hover around 0C (and that is before the wind is taken into account). Decks are slippery, ice is moving, polar bears may be interested and all the while big heavy things, from helicopters to strings of glass balls, are moving around overhead.
Who runs all this equipment? The LSSL Deck Crew. The Boatswain is in charge of everything that happens on the...
The most common three-letter abbreviation in oceanography is CTD.C = conductivityT = temperatureD = depth
Measuring these parameters of ocean water establishes the layers of the ocean water sandwich. In order to understand the questions being asked out here, you must first understand how the sandwich layers are determined.
Temperature is measured with a thermometer. In the Arctic, the temperature of ocean water does not change very much, ranging from -1C to 5C, depending on location and time of year.
Depth is calculated by measuring hydrostatic pressure. See 5 August -- Furthest North Journal entry(http://www.polartrec.com/node/5385) for an explanation of hydrostatic pressure (and its effect on Styrofoam cups). Hydrostatic pressure increases in a very predictable way as depth...
Today was Mega Buoy day, meaning that 4 buoys were deployed on one ice floe, creating an Ice-Based Observatory (IBO). The data collected by these 4 systems will give scientists a detailed picture over time of Arctic ice, water and weather dynamics. (And no one has to stay here over winter!)
David Meldrum of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) deployed his SAMS- Ice Mass Balance Station (IMBS).
David is trying to measure the flux* of heat through the ice from both the sun and the water. His station has 3 systems to collect data. The first system measures the temperature of the ice, and the air just above and water just below. The second collects both incoming and outgoing solar radiation. Using two sets of sensors, one pointing up and the other pointing down, he measures...
We have been too far north to receive email since the evening of August 3rd. Going north is cool. Now that we are heading south again, we are all getting anxious to hear from family and friends. Every conversation now contains a reference to communication. We have become so accustomed to instant gratification...it is a bit disturbing to be suddenly cut off. I have been reading Ring of Ice: True Tales of Adventure, Exploration and Arctic Life (Peter Stark, ed.) and thinking about the severe hardships and isolation endured in order to explore this area. A few days without email seems rather trivial by comparison.
Our wonderful Electronics Officer Heather Kinrade is predicting that the email satellite will be far enough above the horizon sometime this afternoon.
While I am waiting to...
Randy Turner is the LSSL Chief Cook, and he and his crew in the Logistics department are responsible for the care and comfort of everyone on board. Randy learned to cook at home-- his parents worked so he and his brother chose home chores that suited them. After years in the hotel and restaurant business, he came to the Coast Guard because of the freedom. Here he can invent menus, experiment with tastes combinations and *play* in the kitchen.
And cook he does. Randy has the confidence of the seasoned chef saying that he can make a meal out of anything. He also takes his responsibility for our care seriously: to many of his dishes he adds ginger for digestion and garlic for the heart, and works to make his food visually appealing.
He has an entire room devoted to the potato.
Linda...
In honor of being at our farthest point north, we sent Styrofoam cups down with the Rosette to 2710 meters. What do you think happens to a cup down there, with the weight of all that water on it? See the end of this post to check your thinking...
We also tossed out our last set of drift bottles on the helo deck.
After sampling at this station, we are heading southeast along 140 latitude.
Our mascot Lulu is now sporting a shrunken head.
I decorated 5 cups, one each for my family and one to thank my supporters of this great adventure: PolarTREC, WHOI, The LSSL Scientists and Crew, Durham Academy and my family.
Styrofoam cups at 2710 meters are subjected to the intense pressure of the water column above, and the air above that, and the water all around it. Styrofoam is a lattice...
Studying ice means some rather cool (pun intended) field work, involving transport to remote places and using big power tools as well as some purpose-built devices. Alice Orlich (a undergraduate geography student at UAF) and Kristina Brown (a student at UBC) are out on the ice measuring, among other things, how thick the ice is.
First, a hole must be drilled. Brian Hunt uses a 2-inch bit to make the hole.
If the blade goes all the way into the ice and Brian still has not hit the water below, he will remove the engine, add another section of blade and continue on until he hits water, or needs to add *another* section of blade. Then the depth of the hole is measured.
Alice inserts a nifty tool called an ice toggle into the hole. The weight of the metal toggle pulls the tape measure...
Rick and Will have found a suitable floe and we are going out to deploy an ITP. I am going out on the ice! We helicopter out to the ice and work begins right away.
First Will and Jim drill the hole using a 10' auger bit. They drill 3.2 meters down, into the water below.
First to go in is the anchor, weighing 250 pounds.
Note that it is designed to fit into the 10" hole. The anchor is lowered into the hole with a most interesting device.
The Arctic Winch was designed by Don Peters at WHOI specifically for ITP deployment. It is lightweight, made of aluminum, so it can be carried onto the ice. It comes apart for easy shipping and moving. Its design exploits the weight of the anchor so that the weight of the anchor pulls the line down into the water beneath the ice.
Next the...
Today the WHOI team is putting in their first of 5 Ice Tethered Profilers (ITP) of this cruise.
For detailed information on the ITP, please see:http://www.whoi.edu/ The first thing to do is find some ice.
Rick and Will are flying out to look for a suitable ice floe. The LSSL Ice Observer Marie-Claude Bouchard accompanies them to add her expertise. The ideal piece of ice is at least 3 meters thick, has a flat top indicating even growth of the ice over time, and few, if any, melt ponds. When they spot one, pilot Chris Swannell will land so Rick and Will can drill a test hole. Once the ice is determined to be suitable, the spot is marked with a flag and GPS.
The drill test hit water about half way down indicating that the floe was not solid or stable enough to support an ITP. After...
Though some work the night watch so they end their day with breakfast, and the constant light challenges the brain to differentiate day and night ---- still the ship has routines. Some routines are daily and some are weekly.
Meals are taken in two mess halls
The science meeting happens most days at 11AM in the Board Room.
The Captain's Sunday Dinner is a 5-course tradition held in the Senior Officer's Dining Room. Several scientists are invited each week to attend. Hugh Maclean, David Meldrum and I enjoyed a really yummy meal-- the home-made mint patties *made out of potato* were killer.
Chef Randy and his team prepare a serious spread for Friday night in the Forward Lounge.
Meanwhile, work goes on.
Equipment is prepared,
and tested.
Samples are collected, and run.
All fun...
We awoke to snow!
The WHOI team is recovering a mooring today. After yesterday's helicopter preview, Captain McNeill knew to expect some ice. To prepare the mooring site, he methodically and skillfully navigated the ship around the mooring site, breaking up and scattering ice.
The wind and currents were not cooperating, however, and he had to use both the ship and the bubbler to create a pond large enough to begin recovery.
On the Captain's command, Rick sent the acoustic signal to the release mechanism to let go.
The first mechanism did not respond, so a signal was sent to the second one (ALWAYS have a back-up!). The second one did respond and let go, but, by this time, wind and currents had pushed ice back into the recovery area. The top float did not emerge....it was a long 30...
The best way to see what is ahead is to go look!
This morning I had the opportunity to join the LSSL Ice Observer Marie-Claude Bouchard and U. of Alaska, Fairbanks, student researcher Alice Orlich on an ice reconnaissance flight. The purpose of the flight was to verify ice conditions ahead so that Captain McNeill knew what to expect during the mooring recovery scheduled for the next day.
Marie-Claude is in her second year as an "ice pick." She explained that ice conditions are standardized: she reports "the egg," a series of numbers that describe the amount, age and size of ice observed. (Please see Sea Ice Facts in the Resources section for a detailed description of "the egg"). Her data is combined with remote sensing (satellite images) and ice...
It was a day of most, first, biggest and furthest.
Today we are at our *furthest* point west of the cruise: 75.5N, -157.10W
We had our *first* all-ship polar bear sighting. We saw a mother with twocubs, and an additional bear in the water!
We tossed out our *first* set of drift bottles. Information on the driftbottle project is here:http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/SCI/osap/projects/driftbottle/intro_e.htm
We had our *first* snow (ok.............flurries).
We had the *most* wind -- 28 knots, with gusts up to 35 knots-- producingthe *biggest* swells -- 6-8 feet-- so far on the cruise.
So long for now from the Louis!
After a yummy Sunday supper of turkey with all the trimmings, the WHOI team and the LSSL deck crew prepares the mooring to go back out into the Arctic Ocean for another year.
Electronics are checked, batteries replaced, sediment traps reset, and glass balls prepared. Then the whole thing goes back in the ocean, in reverse order.
First the anchor goes in, 4000 pounds of deadweight. Attached to the anchor is the release hook, and the back-up. The WHOI guys make careful note which release they put on which mooring anchor, so they have the correct release codes next year.....
Then the glass balls in hard hats, 58 of 'em, get hooked on the line, 4 at a time. This process takes well over an hour and looks like a well-rehearsed ballet. Will is careful to connect each set of...
Today Jim Dunn, Will Ostrom and Rick Krishfield from WHOI will recover a mooring that has been sitting underwater up here in the Arctic collecting data for the past year. The mooring has several data collectors on it: among them are a upward-looking sonar to measure ice thickness and a MMP that travels up and down the mooring line collecting CTD (conductivity (a measure of salinity), temperature and depth) and water current information. This system allows scientists to collect data 27/7/365 in this remote and inhospitable climate -- and adds data over time to our "ocean water sandwich". (See Friday 25 July journal).
Uh huh, you say. So what? Well- you know that arcade game where you putyour money in to try to pick up *your* prize out of a jumbled mess ofobjects in a...
Its all about the water..............
Ocean water is like a sandwich. It is stratified-- full of horizontal layers some of which do, and others which do not, mix well with the layers near-by. These layers are determined by the density of the water. The primary factors affecting ocean water density are its salinity (how much salt is in the water) and temperature. However, in the Arctic the water temperature is fairly constant at just above freezing, so water density is determined primarily by salinity. The biggest sources of fresh water are rivers, rain and snow and ice melting. Scientists sample water at specific depths, which represent these different layers, then measure a variety of factors in each sample. In this way, scientists "cut through the sandwich" exposing...
The Engine Room Tour
Chief Engineer Don Stortts kindly gave us an engine systems tour today. Don has been going to sea for 36 years, and he clearly knows this ship. His knowledge and enthusiasm made the tour truly fascinating. Here is what I learned.
The LSSL is propelled by a diesel/ electric motor system. Diesel fuel is used to power five generators producing 6600 volts AC each.
This voltage is converted to 900 volts DC to run three motors, each powering one of three propellers. Each propeller is 4575mm (about 15 feet) in diameter and weighs 24,634 kg (about 54,000 pounds). The ship weighs 13000 tons.
Question: Though it is so heavy, why does the ship float?
The ship can carry 3.6 million liters of fuel, and needs a 7000-liter oil change at least...
All Hands Help Out
We are cruising along the continental shelf of the Canada Basin in the Beaufort Sea, currently stopped at Station A. Oceanographic data has been collected here since at least 1995, so we are spending some time here to be sure that the scientists are able to collect all the necessary samples to continue the "picture in time" of this location. Samples are collected very close together because on the shelf as depth changes rapidly so do the measured factors.
The ship is busy, so in addition to writing dispatches .....
I have been put to work........
The Ice Tethered Profiler team (ITP) team from Woods Whole (WHOI) is testing their communications and release mechanisms. I helped them out in their shop (also the helicopter hanger).
Leaving...
Bongo Bingo
If you want to see what lives in the ocean, you cast a net, bring it in and look inside to see what you caught. At the beach, a simple plastic sieve filtering sand in the tidal zone will catch mole crabs and coquina clams. A hand net in a pond will catch tadpoles and crayfish. So what might be dipped here in the Arctic Ocean to catch critters? Remember, everything here is BIG..............
Up here, scientists use these Bongo nets that are so big and heavy that they must be put in the ocean with a winch. The winch lets out a steel cable for the specified depth, then hauls it back in. And then the Bingo begins-- what will be in the nets?!?
Before they can go back to the lab to look, they read and record the current meters, so they can calculate the volume of water...
Fog bows, white rainbows, cloud bows, sea dogs
We traveled through scattered ice this morning.
For most of the morning, we had a beautiful fog bow in front of the ship.
A fog bow is like rain bow in that it is caused by sunlight shining onto water droplets. Because the water droplets that cause fog are very small, the fog bow has little or no color.
I took these pictures from *monkey's island*.
Today is the first sunny morning since we left Cambridge Bay.
Question: Do you know an easy way to remember the colors of the rainbow (in order!)?
It is unusual to meet another ship in the Arctic. The Amundsen has been at sea for more than 8 months! The Louis was its "ship of opportunity" meaning that we are the first ship to cross its path.
We carried fresh...
Extensive preparations have made to get here: grants written, technicians hired, literally tons equipment packed and sent, crew and ship logistics finalized, scientists traveled from home to here-- all to study the Arctic.
How do they study the Arctic? What do these scientists look at, measure, compare and contrast, talk about, ponder in quiet moments? The methods used are way cool -- like no science I have ever seen. Today the CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth) team conducted a practice Rosette cast. After all the effort to get here, it is important to get it right.
If you wanted to know about the water in a pond, you could go out in a boat to various locations in the pond and take samples, using, say, a cup and your arm. Up here the pond is the Arctic Ocean, our...
We are underway!
Our tentative cruise plan is below.
Our progress can be tracked here: http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=CGBN
We have spent the past two days unpacking, locating equipment, organizing, planning , testing-- all in preparation for the science activities that will begin early tomorrow morning. For all of this to work, for rosette casts to be drawn up from 4000 meters deep, for moorings to be deployed into, and recovered from, 3500 meters deep, for ice-tethered profilers to be set into ice, for nets to be dragged, the scientists rely on the ship, its officers and crew.
Captain Andrew McNeill is in command of the Louis. He has been to sea for over 20 years. When not at sea, his home is Paradise, Newfoundland. Captain McNeill is responsible...
The Canadian Coast Guard ship Louis S. St-Laurent (Louis) is named for the Right Honorable Louis S. St. Laurent, Prime Minister of Canada from 1949 to 1957. His accomplishments included promoting Canada's membership in NATO and initiating construction of the St. Laurence seaway. The Louis is Canada's largest and most powerful ice breaker.
She arrived in Cambridge Bay yesterday and today all of the scientists will arrive on board as well as a new captain and crew, comprised of 13 officers and 33 crew. Because of her 9.91 meter draught, she cannot dock at Cambridge Bay-- we cannot just walk on.
Instead we fly on, aboard a MB105 helicopter piloted by a veteran of Louis scientific cruises Chris Swannell.
Check out the video I made of my trip on the...
The first thing you learn when you get on a ship is how to get off. Today we went through several safety drills. We had a Ship Familiarization Session led by 3rd Officer Marian Punch. She instructed us on general ship safety and etiquette, and how to use the very important flotation suit.
While it may feel awkward and funny now, understanding its features, practicing putting it on and sealing up all the exits will greatly increase your chances of survival.
Shortly afterwards we had fire and abandon ship drills.
We donned our life jackets and warm clothes. We checked each other's equipment to ensure all is in order.
We then mustered at our assigned life boats. Chief Officer Stan Nunn called roll and ensures that we are all familiar with the life boats...
This is my first time ever above the Arctic Circle. The Arctic Circle circles the earth at 66° 33? 39? (or 66.56083°) north of the equator. It is defined by the southern-most point of a "polar day" and "polar night" meaning that here the sun stays above the horizon for 24 hours, and stays below the horizon for 24 hours, at least once per year.
Because the earth's tilt and rotation wobble, the location of the Arctic Circle will change ever so slightly over time.
Question: How many countries does the Arctic Circle pass through?
We landed in Cambridge Bay on a permafrost runway.
The ship was not ready for all of us so The Group of 9 decamped to The Green Row in Cambridge Bay. We toured the town, stopping in at the Visitors Center. This poster details important...
"Mom, David asked us to spend the night Wednesday. Can we??"
Silence. We all look around the dining room......"Mom will not be here on Wednesday. Ask Dad."
I am leaving! My classroom is set up, Mrs. Carr and Dr D. are ready, my family is ready......but are they? 5 weeks is a long time. We have talked about it ad nauseum, but now we are here! I will not be around to OK sleepovers, decide what is for dinner or do laundry. I have a wonderful family, and this post is dedicated to them.
All the Ward women are on expedition this summer.
Alice left on 1 July for Algonquin Park, the same camp both my sister and I went to. It still has no electricity and all their camp food is cooked on a wood stove. She sends us letters. We will see each other again on 22...
Last week I went to WHOI and my PolarTREC teacher Gerty Ward tagged along. Our mission was to meet Rick Krishfield, our researcher on the expedition, and to learn more about the BGE Project. Mr K's lab is full of interesting equipment and mysterious boxes. He is very busy packing for the expedition. Out of all the cool things in the room, the very first thing I noticed were these marks on this ITP buoy. They are from a polar bear trying to figure out what this big yellow thing is sitting out there in his environment. Friend? Foe? Food?
The marks are big, aren't they. Looks like claws or teeth? Whichever, they mean the bear is big. Me, not so big. Thinking about how big the hand has to be to have those claws or how big the mouth had to be to hold those teeth made me feel...
Many of you may know that song by the Police, and you may have thought about finding a long lost note that had been adrift in a bottle for years in the sea. You may have even tossed one overboard yourself with a note inside, just in case.......... but how many of you have actually FOUND a message in a bottle?
Mr. Teagarden has.
Who? What? Where? When? And why?
Mr. Teagarden is an assistant track coach at Durham Academy. My twin sons Carl and Fred are runners and very fortunate to be coached by Mr T. and Mr. Cullen. One afternoon my husband was doing some PolarTREC public relations and Mr T was kind enough to listen --and suddenly *ding* one of those really cool connections was made that make the world seem like a very small place.
The story:
In thinking about ways...
Here in Durham, NC, it is HOT. 100° hot. Really hot. Don't want to move in daytime hot. Thick, sticky, steamy hot. As we walk our dogs, they prance on the pavement to minimize contact and head straight for the grass next to the road.
"I am going on a expedition in the arctic this summer," I tell family and friends. When they hear "arctic," a far away cool expression overtakes their face and they retreat into a chilly memory of ice and outer wear.
Outer wear. Not a concern of mine right now given the weather down here --but it is a concern for up there for my outfitter: Robbie. Because PolarTREC teachers come from all over the USA and do not, as a routine, go out into extreme environments, ARCUS (the folks who take care of us) enlist the help of several...
Have you seen this little fella in my pictures?
The lion wearing a DA shirt and a bow tie? He is my school friend and my PolarTREC expedition mascot. Check my journal and photos to see how many times you can spot him! He has been to Fairbanks, to the Alaskan pipe line, seen a polar bear and hung out with the PolarTREC teachers. He is coming with me to the Beaufort Sea this summer to help me learn about life on CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent. Until now, we called him DA Lion (which sometimes became Duh Lion or, worse, Duh Bear). I am so pleased to announce that, thanks to the creative juices of 5th grader Austin Elizabeth, the DA Lion now has a name: Cavaleo!
When asked how she came up with the name, she could not really say -- I have found this to be true for...
Mrs. Ward's classroom, Durham Academy Middle School Rm 401
Last week, Mr. Harger's 5th grade students took a break from learning about health and human development and joined Mrs. Ward on an adventure from her classroom at DA (room 401) to the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska just below the Arctic Circle.
First we studied a map of the northern polar region to orient ourselves (see my 8 April 2008 journal for maps). We found Kugluktuk on our globes and then set out for the ice!
We all ooo'd and ahhh'd over the beautiful pictures that Rick Krishfield sent. It was like we were there! Of course to be on the ice, you must have the right clothes!
Dressing up in this extreme weather gear prompted our first question:how does everyone know who is who with all these clothes on? After a while we collected more and more questions so I kept a...
I am really lucky to have been selected as a PolarTREC teacher. I am not sure that I can list all the reasons why yet; however, a big one is being able to interact with a special group of people who are committed to science education and to helping me bring the field experience into the classroom.
Last night I participated in a webinar, a seminar on the web. This webinar was the second for PolarTREC, and it was so much more rewarding! After spending a week in a conference room, at the Ice Park, at the Reindeer Farm, in the Permafrost tunnel with these 12 other science teachers + the ARCUS staff, reconnecting on the web was quite easy. We use both typing and VOIP (voice-over-internet-protocol) to communicate, and, yes, we can even use emoticons.
Last night we...
To prepare for my expedition this summer I have been reading two books recommended by my expedition leader Rick Krishfield.
The first is Farthest North by Fridtjof Nansen. (1999: Modern Library; Abridged edition)
After successfully crossing the Greenland ice cap in 1888, F. Nansen turned his exploring attention towards the North Pole. After considering the evidence of past Arctic expeditions, Nansen began developing theories about ocean tides and currents, and hypothesized that he could drift towards the North Pole by freezing a specially-designed ship into the ice pack. Everyone thought he was crazy. Not only did he lack a safe retreat, he also was testing a novel and controversial ship design that, if failed, would most certainly lead to the demise of the expedition....
Rick Krishfield and Andrey Proshutinsky work at the Woods Hole Institute of Oceanography, or WHOI (pronouced "hooey"). I will be joining them on the Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project on the ice-breaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent this summer. I am planning to visit Woods Hole in June, before the expedition. So that we can get to know each other, I interviewed Rick and Andrey via email.
An unusual view of the Beaufort Sea, and the Arctic.
The BGE departs from Kugluktuk, NW Territories, Canada.(Courtesy Anthropolis-- http://www.athropolis.com/map2.htm)
At WHOI, Rick has been involved with oceanographic research in the Polar oceans because of the importance of those regions for understanding and predicting the directions of global environmental change. As a result, he has...
Yesterday I saw "Encounters at the End of the World" a documentary about McMurdo Station, the NSF science station in Antarctica. It is a movie-must.
Whoa, you say....aren't you going to the Arctic? Yes, I am, but I saw the film for several reasons.
First, it was screened at Durham's Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
which ran this weekend in town. 2008 is Full Frame's 10th season of bringing fresh and novel stories to the screen, and the theme this year is "The Power of Story." McMurdo Station is excellent story.
Second, it features amazing footage of researchers who don dry suits and SCUBA under the ice. To me, this activity is incomprehensible. But to PolarTREC teacher Robin Ellwood, it is all in a day's work.
After meeting her at our PolarTREC...
To prepare for expedition conditions, the PolarTREC teachers took part in "Learn to Return" training. Tuck Brouhard of LTR Training Systems, Inc. walked us through hypothermia prevention, frostbite treatment, snow-blind precautions-- all things that a prepared traveler should know.
The most interesting segment of the training was building a functional snow boot from items typically found in expedition camps. Now teachers are excellent improvisers! We know how to scan the room, realize that what we had planned for the day is not working, and then turn to plan B (or plan C or plan D or.....). The training that Tuck provided today helped us take these great improv skills and apply them to problems in the field.
First Tuck showed us a cut-away of a Bunny Boot. This popular...
We had the privilege of visiting the US Army Corps of Engineers Permafrost Research Facility outside Fairbanks yesterday.
Matthew Strum, a physical earth scientist, talked to us about his work, the permafrost tunnel and -- most importantly -- water. He reminds us that in order to understand climate science and what is happening in the Arctic and Antarctic, we must understand water. Listen to his fascinating comments about water in the attached audio file.
Water is a most unusual substance! Like all matter, it exists in three states, or phases: solid (ice), liquid (water) and gas (water vapor or humidity). However, water is the only substance known to exist, naturally, in all three phases on Earth. Think about that!
Water has another fascinating property...ice floats! That is,...
Today I saw one of the greatest engineering feats ever: the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System (TAPS) or, as it is called in the "lower 48", the Alaska pipeline.
Here in Alaska, it is often referred to as the Alyeska pipeline, after the company that built and maintains it. It is 800 miles long, stretching from Prudoe Bay on Alaska's north slope, to the port of Vladez on Prince William Sound. It has successfully moved about 15 billion barrels of oil to date! The company take safety and environmental responsibility very seriously.
Check The Alyeska Pipeline Company site for fascinating pipeline facts! Can you find the answers to these questions?
1. Why are parts of the pipeline above ground?2. Why does the pipeline zig zag?3. Why was Valdez chosen as the port city for oil...
I left Durham on an early spring afternoon prepared for flying 4300 miles on four airplanes to reach Fairbanks. Flying was uneventful, UNTIL I got on the Alaska Air flight from Seattle to Anchorage. Imagine my surprise when I saw moving fur on the floor. Cody, an avalanche search and rescue dog was hunkered down with his handler, totally chilled for the flight. He is 8 years old, weighs about 100 pounds and can tell the difference between a person and an article of clothing under 5 feet of snow and ice. He did not move once during the 3 hour 47 minute flight. I wish I could say the same for me!
I arrived in Fairbanks at 1:30AM local time, 5:30AM back home. I met two fellow PolarTREC teachers and we went onto the hotel and right to bed, perchance to sleep. Dreams comes...