8 July 2009 Kangerlussuaq

A full day in Kangerlussuaq started with a hearty breakfast at the cafeteria in the airport. Once we got back to the KISS building it was time to get our gear packed, thinking about what we needed of personal gear to take to the Summit. Loading up with personal items and curiosity for the day in front of us, we headed over to the warehouse to get fitted for cold weather gear. Robbie had already bagged everything up according to our predicted sizes but we needed to try it on, check zippers, and make sure we had everything.

Once we got back it was time for our whole group ED Team Meeting. I felt it was important to hear from everyone - so we all had a chance to talk about our goals for this trip, ideas we'd like to be able to do at Summit and then expectations for the outcomes. See attached goal document for each of our thoughts on this day! What an opportunity for all of us to come together for this exciting adventure as we learn about the science happening in Greenland and specifically at the Summit Station.

After lunch we were gathered and ready for the very informative Live Webinar created for the ED Science Team. It was a time for us to get important background information for our week ahead. This was also a time to ask questions of the very generous scientists who are doing research in Greenland and it initiated discussion and more questions for our continued quest for understanding after the Webinar. Huge thanks to the scientists who gave of their time and energy to inform us and others who joined in! If you missed it and want the information, this Greenland Science Webinar is now archived on the PolarTREC site.

Evening was time for more information. First came our safety meeting w/Sandy about being at the Summit Station. We received information about being at high altitude, keeping aware of boundaries and places we could go, tent life and other important aspects of living with a large group in a scientific station at 10,000 feet!

Our last interesting and informative presentation of the day was on Ice Cores, from Sune Rasmussen of NEEM. More to contemplate as we take off on our expedition to the Summit. The entire ED Team prepared for a very short night as we knew we had to be up at 12:30 for some quick breakfast before heading to the airplane by 1:30am!