25 June 2008 Danish Parliament

June 25, 2008 – Wednesday – Danish Parliament

At 7:00am the Hercules buzzed Tent City; right on schedule to deliver its special cargo.

Summit was looking prim and proper. The Big House was vacuumed, the dishes were clean, and the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted through camp.

As the New York Air National Guard powered down the engines of the C-130, the ground crew opened the hatch to welcome 12 members of Denmark’s Parliament, the press corps, and a few Air Force officers and crew. They were quickly whisked off to camp on snowmobiles and broken up into tour groups.

An hour later each group had raced through the science projects of Sat Camp and the Flux facility, toured Tent City and had fresh rolls in the Big House. Then, as fast as they arrived, they were off, back on the plane headed for Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.

The quick visit served many purposes for many different groups. The Air Force was able to show their ability to effectively service a remote science camp in an extreme environment, as well as build up PR with the Danish Government. For the Summit staff it was an opportunity to show the fruits of their labor and efforts at maintaining the facilities. For the researchers, it was an opportunity to showcase their valuable equipment and explain their important experiments.

For me? Well, I ended up with the press corps, touring through camp (who knows how that happened!). Some were interested to hear how a teacher from the state of Montana could end up on top of Greenland’s ice sheet but mostly they were interested in the tethersonde; not so much about what science it is used for, but because it makes for great PHOTOS!

The photographers had Craig Clements and I posing in various positions at Balloon Island, "Turn your head to the left…no…your other left!”; "Pull the balloon down lower, can it go any lower, any lower, there you go…”; "Smile just a bit, not too much now. Can you pick the food out of your teeth first, ok, that is better…well…maybe you should just NOT smile….GOOD!”; and so on, and so on. It was obvious that neither of us have had training in modeling and neither of us had showered in days!

I am not sure what the Danish Parliament members were able to take away from the experience. Some were underdressed and chattered their teeth through the entire tour. One collapsed from the altitude and was administered oxygen. Most had enormous smiles as they tried to understand our quick speaking and energetic scientists. If they didn’t understand a word they heard, they were sure to pick up on the enthusiasm the scientists have for this special place. Hopefully, we sent them home with an appreciation of polar science and an understanding of the importance of performing global climate research.

One must be very flexible with his or her schedule up here. The Air National Guard had a flight scheduled to take much of our Phase 1 crew off the ice tomorrow afternoon. We received word at midday that the flight had been rescheduled to pick them up on Friday instead of Thursday. Two hours later the plans had changed again. The plane will be arriving tomorrow at 7:00 am…those leaving are keeping their fingers crossed!

Christine Haman (University of Houston) arrived yesterday to take the place of Barry Lefer and Craig Clements on our team who will be jumping on that plane tomorrow morning. Both are eager to get home and see family and friends. Christine and I will remain here and try to keep the boat afloat. Barry seems far less nervous about leaving us here to run his equipment than he should!

Food Update:

Will, the new cook, is still settling into camp and learning his way around the kitchen. Cathy, the assistant, whipped up some excellent food to cover for Will until tomorrow; I will have a full report for you then.

Stay Warm!!