3 July 2009 Gearing Up!

Flying to Albany, New York to meet up with the rest of the U.S. Joint Science Education Tour participants is an exciting way to gear up for this trip! Did you know that Greenland is one and a half times the size of Alaska?! It's the world's largest island and we'll be spending this time together learning about the people, animals, data collection and scientific investigations being done at this time! The weather report for Kangerlussuaq today lists a high of 11° C and the Summit Station http://www.geosummit.org/ has a potential high of -9° C today! Hmmm, so that means I will go from celebrating the 4th of July in a t-shirt and shorts here in Washington, D.C. to packing my fleece, long johns, wool socks and rain gear in anticipation of summer in Greenland's Arctic regions. I'm very thankful that we will get a full complement of cold weather gear in Kangerlussuaq! More news to come after the Scotia-based 109th New York Air National Guard takes five of our group to Kangerlussuaq on the LC 130 http://www.109aw.ang.af.mil/ to join the others. I'm thrilled to be a part of this exciting educational team - three from Niskayuna High School in New York, three from Aasiaat High School in Greenland and three from Sankt Annae Gymnasium in Copenhagen, Denmark as well as other program managers and science specialists!

Keep posted for more journal entries with experiences and quotes from each of our participants!