19 July 2013 Reflection from Josefine on Summit

Here is Josefine's reflection on Summit. I'm posting it in Danish, with a rough English translation following. -- Lynn

Danish

Kl. 9.00 stod vi alle klar uden foran Kangerssluak efterskole, hvor vi bor, klar til at tage flyet til Summit Station. Vi blev kørt med bus derud, hvor et kæmpe C130 fly ventede os. Det var en flyvetur, vi alle havde set frem til, og en flyvetur vi sent ville glemme. Mange af os småblundede, da flyet landede med et bump, hvorefter en af soldaterne i flyet over radioen fortalte os, at vi sad fast. Noget vi senere hen fik at vide, sjældent skete én gang hvert tiende år!

Da vi stod ud af flyet, var det ikke kun den bidende kulde, der mødte os, men også det mærkværdige syn ved ikke at kunne skelne jorden og himlen fra hinanden. Alt var bare hvidt.

En snescooter holdte og ventede på os, og vi befandt os snart ved ”det store hus”. Vi blev mødt med en sådan gæstfrihed, jeg sent vil glemme. Ind trådte vi, i et rum fyldt med glade ansigter, og som prikken over iét VARM mad.

Vi blev alle to og to indlogeret i små gule telte, som vi skulle tilbringe de næste fire nætter i.

De efterfølgende dage er noget af det mest fantastiske, jeg nogensinde har oplevet. En helt enestående oplevelse af naturvidenskaben på tætteste hold. Ikke nok med, at vi fik chancen for at være helt tæt på forskerne, vi fik også lov til at være med og bidrage til deres forskning. En af de første dage var vi ude med Max, for at lave en lille prøve iskerneborring. Noget jeg havde set utrolig meget frem til. Vi borrede et 2m dybt hul i sneen, som senere blev helt ned til 3m dybt ved hjælp af håndkraft. Max forklarede os både, hvordan man kunne se, hvilket årstal det pågældende is/sne var fra, men også hvad man egentlig bruger iskerneborringer til.

Som sagt, ved at kigge på iskernen kan man bestemme ud fra de forskellige lag, hvornår de er fra. Noget af det de bl.a. undersøger i disse iskerneborringer er forholdet mellem de isotoper man kan finde fanget i de små luftbobler, der er blevet skabt i iskernen. Et forhold mellem isotoper man f.eks. kunne undersøge, er forholdet mellem O16 og O18. Til at udvinde disse luftbobler findes, der flere forskellige metoder.

Ved nogenlunde at vide, hvornår et bestemt lag i iskernen er fra, selvfølgelig med visse usikkerheder, kan man også bruge luftboblerne fra det lag, til at sige noget om, hvordan atmosfæren var på netop det tidspunkt, hvor luftboblen er blevet fanget i isen.

De efterfølgende dage blev bedre og bedre. Du troede du havde oplevet det fedeste på hele turen, men den ene fede dag blev efterfuldt af den næste.

En af de dage var dagen, hvor vi skulle ud og se et snow pit. Der må jeg være ærlig og indrømme, at det er noget af det smukkeste jeg nogensinde har set. Turen derud til fods var lang og hård pga. de højder man befinder sig i, men det var helt klart det hele værd. Da vi kom derud var det synet af en stor bunke sne med blå flag i, der mødte os. Ikke noget særligt, men da en plade blev løftet dukkede et lille hul op på lidt over en halv meter i diameter, og én efter én kravlede vi derned.

Det tog helt pusten fra mig, da et syn af en ”væg” af sne og is cirka 2,5 – 3 m i højden og 40cm i bredden dukkede op. Solens stråler lyste gennem det, så man tydeligt kunne se forskellige lag og teksturer i væggen. Det var enten det syn eller den lange gåtur, der havde taget pusten fra mig.

Vi fik fortalt en masse om, hvordan du kunne skelne de forskellige lag fra hinanden. En smule ligesom iskerneborringen, men meget tydeligere. Man kunne f.eks. tydeligt se forskel fra sommer og vinterlagene, da sommerlagen var meget lysere og mere grov med større snekrystaller, hvorimod vinterlaget var mørkere og snekrystallerne helt små og knuste. Dette skyldes i vintermånderne, hvor sne bliver blæst rundt, som dermed resulterer i ødelæggelsen af snekrystallerne som gør, at sneen bliver tættere pakket. Noget andet bemærkelsesværdigt var en lille tynd hel mørk stribe, der var hyppig at finde flere steder på væggen. Årsagen til denne stribe skyldes voldsomt stormvejr. Det mest specielle var dog, at sidste år havde der været en stor smelteperiode af isen, hvilket tydeligt kunne ses i laget fra sommeren, men hvor man også kunne finde spor af dette længere nede i lagene, hvor der var blevet dannet en bane af is. Der, der sker, er, at når det smelter, er vandet på 0C, og bliver ved med at løbe ned gennem lagene ind til, at det når til et lag på under 0C, og dermed sker der det man kalder en refreeze.

Udover at høre, hvordan man kunne kende forskel på de forskellige lag, hjalp vi også med at tage nogle test derfra. Vi hjalp bl.a. Doktor David Noone med at tage prøver af isen til hans undersøgelser om isotoper i isen. Vi hjalp ham med at tage prøve nummer 2001-2026. Som han selv fortalte os, plejer han cirka at samle omkring 3000 prøver om året fra et snow pit i Summit, hvor han og hans crew, graver et nyt snow pit ud hvert år.

Selvom dagene var hårde, afsatte det os dog ikke fra, at spille spil, drikke kakao og spille musik med det helt fantastiske hold bag Summit Station hver aften, der bare får det til at køre såvel forskere som elektrikere, kokke osv. Alle på stationen er hver især en brik i det store puslespil, for at få det hele til at køre glat.

Dagen inden vi skulle hjem, fik vi lov til at komme med ud for at sætte en af de store luftballoner til vejrs. Ballonens opgave er at måle temperatur, dugpunkt, vindhastighed osv.. Utrolig spændende proces med først at få ballonen pustet op, og montere alle de forskellige målere på den. En meget vigtig deltalje var ikke at røre ballonen med sine hænder, for at den ikke skulle kunne risikere at springe før tid, og få mindre data ud af det. Da vi kom ud, var jeg den heldige til at slippe den og lade den stige til vejrs. Det var en fantastisk følelse bare at kigge på den, mens den fløj af sted. Vi fik fortalt, at den kommer cirka 37 km op i luften. Utroligt!

Det var vedmodigt at stå op den sidste dag. Der var ingen af os, der ville forlade dette fantastiske sted. Et sted man kunne udfolde sig videnskabeligt, men også et sted, hvor man var omgivet af så mange herlige mennesker, der alle brændte for det de lavede, og som med glæde ville lære fra sig.

Vi skulle alle være klar kl. 12.30 til at komme med flyet. Vi var alle sammen så småt klar, da der lød en besked over radioen, at flyet sad fast IGEN! Jeg vil sige det sådan, at alle os elever var vildt glade, da vi på den måde fik lov til at blive længere. Mange af de mennesker, der havde været en del af Summit i mange år, sad dog i stedet helt paralyseret. Det var dog lige godt aldrig sket før, og så på samme sæson, og så med samme gruppe. 6 timer senere præcis lige så lang tid, det tog for dem at komme fri sidst, var de klar til at lade os komme om bord. Mange kunne mærke nervøsiteten, da vi skulle til at lette, og jeg vil da også sige, at det var noget af en bummel tur, men op kom vi da. Mens jeg sidder i flyet, kigger jeg ud af vinduet. Ned på det uberørte snedækkede landskab. For folk der ikke har været med, er det svært at sætte sig ind i, hvor helt i gennem fantastisk denne tur egentlig har været. Uden tøven kan jeg sige, at dette uden tvivl har været den bedste oplevelse i hele mit liv, og en oplevelse, jeg aldrig vil glemme!

English

At 9:00, we were all ready outside the front Kangerssluaq boarding school, where we live, ready to take the plane to Summit Station. We were driven by bus there where a huge C130 aircraft awaited us. It was a flight we all had looked forward to, and a flight we would not soon forget. Many of us småblundede when the plane landed with a thud, then one of the soldiers on the plane over the radio told us that we were stuck. Something we later were told that rarely happened once every ten years! When we got out of the plane, it was not just the biting cold that greeted us, but also the remarkable vision by not being able to distinguish the earth and sky apart. Everything was just white.

A snowmobile waited for us and we found ourselves soon at "the big house". We were greeted with such hospitality, I will never forget. We walked into a room filled with happy faces, and as icing on the cake, HOT food.

We were all in pairs staying in small yellow tents that we were going to spend the next four nights in.

The following days are some of the most amazing I have ever experienced. A totally unique experience of science at close range. Not only that we got the chance to be up close to the researchers, we were also allowed to join and contribute to their research. One of the first days we were out with Max, to make a small sample ice coring. Something I had been looking forward to. We bored a 2m deep hole in the snow, which was later down to 3m deep by hand. Max explained to us both, how to look, what year the ice / snow was from, but also what you actually use ice cores for.

As I said, by looking at ice core can be determined from the different layers when they are from. Some of the information is the ratio of the isotopes to be trapped in the small air bubbles that have been created in the core. A ratio of isotopes, for example. could examine the relationship between O16 and O18. To extract the air bubbles exist, there are several different methods.

At roughly to know when a specific layer in the ice core is from, of course with certain uncertainties, one can also use air bubbles from the layer to say something about how the atmosphere was just at the time when the air bubble has been trapped in the ice.

The following days were better and better. You thought you had seen the coolest on the whole trip, but each cool day was followed by another.

One of the days was the day when we were out and see a snow pit. I have to be honest and admit that it is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The tour walk was long and hard due to the heights you are in, but it was definitely worth it. When we got there it was the sight of a big pile of snow with blue flag that met us. Nothing special, but when a plywood cover was lifted popped a small hole to just over half a meter in diameter was revealed, and one by one we climbed down.

It took all my breath away as a vision of a "wall" of snow and ice about 2.5 to 3 m in height and 40cm in width appeared. The sun's rays shone through it, so you could clearly see the different layers and textures in the wall. It was either the vision or the long walk that took my breath away.

We were told a lot about how you could distinguish the layers apart. A bit like iskerneborringen (ice cores), but much clearer. One could for instance. clearly see the difference between summer and winter layers as summer sheet was much lighter and more serious with larger snow crystals, whereas winter layer was darker and snow crystals quite small and broken. This is because in vintermånderne where snow being blown around, thus resulting in the destruction of snow crystals that make the snow becomes denser packed. Another notable was a small thin plain, dark stripe that was frequent to find more places on the wall. The reason for this is becauseof a violent storm. The most special was that last year there had been a great melting period of the ice, which could be seen clearly in the layer from the summer, but where you also find traces of this further down in the layers, which had been formed a sheet of ice . There happens is that when it melts, the water at 0C, and continues to flow down through the layers in that it reaches a layer below 0C, and therefore what happens is you call a refreeze.

In addition to hearing how one could distinguish between the different layers, we helped also by taking some samples. We helped Dr. David Noone take samples for his studies on isotopes in the ice. We helped him to take the test number from 2001 to 2026. As he told us he usually time to gather about 3,000 samples per year from a snow pit in Summit, where he and his crew, dig a new pit snow every year.

Although the days were tough, the play games, drink cocoa and playing music with the fantastic team behind Summit Station every evening that just makes it run, scientists, electricians, cooks, etc. All the station are each a piece of the puzzle to get everything to run smoothly.

The day before we went home, we were allowed to come along to put one of the big balloons into the air. The balloon's task is to measure the temperature, dew point, wind speed, etc.. Incredibly exciting process first to get the balloon inflated and attach all the different gauges on it. A very important consideration was not to touch the balloon with one's hands, so that it would not be a risk to pop ahead of time and get less data out of it. When we came out, I was the lucky one to get to launch the balloon, and let it rise to the top. It was a great feeling just looking at it while it flew away. We were told that it comes about 37 km into the air. Incredible!

It was sad to wake up to the last day at Summit. None of us wanted to leave this amazing place. A place you could unfold scientifically, but also a place where you were surrounded by so many wonderful people who are all passionate about what they were doing and who would gladly teach.

We should all be ready at. 12:30 to board the flight, when we heard a message over the radio that the plane was stuck AGAIN! I will say this, that all of us students were extremely happy because in this way we were allowed to stay longer. Six hours was all it took for them to get free eventually, then they were ready to let us get on board. Many could feel the nervousness when we were about to leave, and I would indeed say that it was something of a Bummel trip, but we came up then. While I was on the plane, I looked out the window. Down on the pristine snow-covered landscape. For people who have not been involved, it is difficult to gain an understanding of how completely through amazing this trip really has been. Without hesitation I can say that this has undoubtedly been the best experience of my life and an experience I will never forget!