2 June 2011 A Trip to Lover's Lane and the Local Islands

That's the name of the cove we went to today to collect some weather data. Our journey today was to a newly discovered island. Newly discovered because the glacier next to Palmer Station has receded so much in the last 30 years, a new island was uncovered. I mentioned it in an earlier blog. It is Amsler island, named after Chuck and Maggie Amsler right here at Palmer Station. Maggie is from Arlington Heights - right in our neighborhood in Chicago. Well, relatively speaking. It's about 25 miles northwest of Chicago.

Today's trip was actually local maintenance. Part of what the crew does down here that stays over for the winter is help some of the scientists collect data when they are gone. Terra Lab does a lot of that on a consistent basis. So, that familiar guy, Neal, was out on Amsler island downloading data from a basic weather monitor for a group from the University of Wisconsin. They are sampling the soil out there. The weather monitor is solar powered but also has a battery. Days are getting pretty short around here. Sunny days are far and few between. Today was an exciting treat to see the sun and not be hit by high winds. So we were able to hop into the Zodiac boats to travel to the islands. Where was I? Oh yeah, this basic weather monitor takes down temperature, air pressure, wind speed, and has a camera on it as well. This way they can match the soil samples to the changing weather conditions. There are tall, thin stick-like markers placed throughout the area that allow for soil samples to be taken. Neal has to bundle up the laptop inside his coat to keep it warm on the way over (cold and electronics don't mix well together). He then hooks it up to the weather monitor and downloads the info to bring back to Palmer.

Our second trip was to Christine Island to replace the caches. Caches? I heard that. You might be familiar with the cache on your computer. It stores information. Sometimes you have to clean it out because it is slowing your computer. Okay, that was very basic and simplistic but serves the purpose. So a cache can be storage of various things. Down here there are cache barrels on the different islands. They are filled with survival materials - tent, cooking equipment, etc. As you all know by now, if you are not prepared you can get into trouble very quickly around here. Every time we get on the Zodiac boats, for instance, everyone has a 'dry bag' which is filled with an extra set of clothing, socks, hat, water, gloves. So if you do fall in the water you can immediately get warm clothes. Hypothermia comes quick when you are wet and the temperature is below freezing.

These blue cache barrels that are on the islands that the boats can land on need to be checked on, restocked if necessary, and then replaced. That can be a tricky job. There are no walking paths around here. So you carefully navigate the snowy, icy rocks to get to the cache. We couldn't land at the site we wanted because the tide had covered our path and the seals blocked the other path. We boated around to the other side and the crew had to maneuver the caches down a steep incline into the boats. So, now I know if I have a boating mishap and get stranded on Christine Island, I'll have a tent and supplies to get me through the night. Be prepared are my words of advice for today. Where ever you may be.