June 26, 2008 – Thursday – Phase 1 Out

    The last plane out for two weeks plucked 20 people from Summit Camp this morning. Most were very eager to get to Kangerlussuaq, where they will stay for two nights before heading back to New York, then off to "Home Sweet Home”!

    Barry Lefer and Craig Clements of our small group took off, leaving Christine Haman and I to fend for ourselves.

    Changing of the Guard
    As Barry Lefer (University of Houston) and Craig Clements (formerly of Univ. of Houston) prepare to leave Summit, they pass the flag and responsibilities off to Christine Haman (also of U of H) and me (not of University of Houston!).

    After the plane roared off the Skiway, those of us who remained went to the Big House for a hot cup of coffee. Then, off to work again.

    We are still fighting a 25 mile per hour North wind (wrong direction for good measurements) which means no balloon launches today. I moved helium and nitrogen cylinders (130 lbs each) from the Balloon barn to Sat Camp, a distance of 1km…each way! I will have sore legs and an aching back tomorrow, but at least I got something accomplished despite the wind. We use the helium for "Nemo” the tethersonde and Georgia Tech uses the Nitrogen in their instruments to analyze air samples.

    Sunlit Snow
    Christine moves the fiberoptic cables of the Snow Bird. The instrument measures sunlight at different depths in the snow.

    Christine found time to move the sunlight sensors of the Snow Bird (learn more here) because they had become buried under drifting snow. Drifting snow seems to be the theme of the day and we are expecting the winds to continue to get stronger over the next few days. I hope I don’t get stuck in my tent tonight; the drift around it is already halfway up the door flap!

    Yesterday a few of us took a break from our work to go and visit a snow pit that was dug by the "Snow Freaks” (learn more here) before they hopped a plane south a few days ago.

    Electric Slide
    The electric snowmobile transports Bryan (U of Colorado), Bonnie Reicherdt (Georgia Tech), Tara Kahan (U of Toronto) and [paddling for extra speed] Luke Ziemba (U of New Hampshire) on their way to the backlit snow pit.

    The pit is actually two pits separated by a 10 inch thick wall of snow. Sunlight shines into one side of the pit and if you walk down inside the other half, you can see all of the snow layers from years past. Dark layers are winter, light layers are summer, the thin dark hard layers show times when the wind blew excessively hard and made a hard crusted layer. I am sure that is what type of layer is being made outside today!

    Light Me Up
    The "backlit snow pit" offers a way for scientists to look at snow events from the past. Two pits are dug with a thin wall left in between. Sunlight shines in one side and an observer on the other is treated with this view!

    The pit will be used as a demonstration tool when a plane load of Greenlandic, Danish, and Norwegian TEACHERS come to visit in early July!

    Food Update:

    Lunch: Pork Verde, Spanish rice, Beans and vegetable enchiladas. It was all so tasty that I skipped my daily salad and had extra enchiladas and rice!

    Dinner: Meat Loaf with mushroom gravy, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, tofu "steaks”, and salad with homemade dressings! For dessert, I heated up a fresh chocolate chip brownie in a bowl and poured in a thick layer of heavy cream…yummy!

    Stay Warm!!

    PS. I just wanted to inform everybody how harsh this environment can be on exposed skin. The insides of my nostrils are burned to a crisp because of sunlight reflecting up off the snow. The wind has chapped my face so badly that on my walk in for lunch, my right nostril split wide open, releasing a steady flow of blood! I am now lathering up my face (and the inside of my nostrils) with Zinc oxide cream to try and keep my nose from cracking off! That wouldn’t be a pretty sight, would it?!!

    Author
    Date
    Location
    Satellite Camp (Sat Camp)
    Weather Summary
    Partly cloudy with steady north winds
    Temperature
    10.4
    Wind Speed
    16
    Wind Chill
    -7.6

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