Today was our last day to get a sediment core from Lil' Nug Base Camp. We had attempted to core from three lakes near the camp. The core results were less than what we were hoping for (a lot of sand in the cores). We noticed on our first glacial hike that there was another lake that essentially sat behind the camp.

    Crash Lake
    Our destination... Crash Lake

    However, to get to the lake to core, we would have to ferry across our fresh water lake and portage the gear 1 km (.6miles) over tundra terrain.

    Putting all the gear into our boat
    Putting all the gear into our boat on the fresh water lake

    After we landed on the other side of the lake, it was time to shuttle all the gear to the next lake. It would take three people two trips to get all the equipment to our destination. No sooner did we begin our caravan, when we spotted more aircraft debris. We are confident that it is all part of one plane.

    Wing from the plane
    Alia and Jason holding a wing from the plane

    Part of the plane
    Another part of the plane that we found

    Our gear needs to be reassembled
    Our gear needs to be reassembled

    Creating anchors for our boat
    Creating anchors for our boat

    The outboard motor
    The outboard motor that Jason hauls on his back

    The boat
    The boat once again

    All our hard work paid off; we collected the Holy Grail of sediment cores today. At the end of a successful day, we had to return the same way we arrived. The team is exhausted but it was worth every sore muscle we will have in the morning.

    Date
    Location
    Crash Lake (named by the team)
    Weather Summary
    Cool, overcast

    Comments

    Peggy McNeal

    Tina- What a remarkable experience you are having. All of the hiking, boating and camping in that beautiful setting is very cool. We have not had the best luck with core samples but have many, many samples from sediment traps that will fulfill our needs just fine.I'm enjoying your journals. Cheers!

    IMSHannahH

    Dear Mrs. CIarametaro,Your Expedition seems like a very amazing experience for you! I am thrilled to hear all about it! What do you miss most about Ipswich? I was also wondering why the water is not frozen if it is soooo cold?! Do you see any plants and animals? If so what are they and how do you think they have adapted to the climate and terrain? What kind of fish are in the water and how deep is it? What are the most common species? Along with that what do you guys eat?!
    I am especially interested in your discovery of the plane! I was researching and I came across this plane The Kee Bird it is the closest to you and it was a 1947 Plane that crashed a little bit north of you. However there was an attempt to bring it back but it failed and remains on an ice shelf next to a lake. Now this most likely is not the same one that you found, but I would love to know when it was from and why it crashed! Make sure to keep an eye open for the Kee Bird!
    Id Love to hear more from you!

    IMSAlyssaT

    When did you notice three lakes by your camp? Must of been a lot of work trying to find sediment cores!

    IMSMarisaS

    Hi! I hope your enjoying your trip! How long did it take you to get all the equipment to the lake?? I hope you enjoy the rest of the trip!!!

    Tina Ciarametaro

    I did not take the temperature, however I can tell you the water was COLD!!!!!

    IMSKyleH

    How has the weather been during your expedition. Also, what is the average temperature of the days? Finally, have you made any discoveries in your research? I hope your having fun, Ill see you in September!

    Tina Ciarametaro

    We made anchors by tying ropes around rectangular shaped rocks. It wasn't hard to make them; but difficult to pull them up and move them.

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear Ben,We do not have details about the plane crash. As far as what we ate up there, go explore my other blogs.

    IMSChaseG

    Hello Mrs.Ciarametaro, I was wondering if there was many flatlands near lakes, because in the pictures, I see mostly mountains sloping down into lakes. Also do you think glaciers moved the land and then quickly melted away after years, enough to make the lakes in Greenland? It would be would be nice to know that, thanks!

    Zachary Forni

    It must be difficult to collect the sediment cores from the lakes. In fact, how hard WAS it to collect them? Also, how surprised were you to find the parts of the crashed plane? I would imagine it was quite surprising.

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear Peggy,so nice to hear from you - we are wrapping up Base Camp 2 today, using the chopper to grab some samples up high on the ice caps and then back to civilization this evening. What an amazing opportunity we have been given.

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear IMSHannahH,I miss most my family - the smell of my children's hair when I hug them, the calmness I feel when I pet my dog - I do not miss the material stuff that we, for whatever reason, fills our lives with. The water will begin to freeze soon - there is a very short window of time in which the snow build up melts along the edge of the ice cap (we are trying to access the margin of the ice cap - the edge) and then snows again. Within weeks, I would not be surprised to hear that it is snowing where I had been standing. Air temperatures have ranged from 40 - 60's while I have been here. Think of our region, are the massive lakes in New England completely frozen over?

    For plant life we have seen: moss, lichen, moss campion, arctic harebells, arctic cotton grass and I have eaten mountain sorrel and Greenland blueberries - oh, yum!

    As far as animal life is concerned, they call me Snow White at camp because I have had a few close encounters with wildlife. According to the nature guide of Greenland, caribou shy away from people. However, I had a juvenile caribou walk within 6 feet of me one morning, and we have had 2 massive caribou follow us in the distance as we travel over the land. Lastly, I had a ptarmigan (bird that looks like a guinea hen) watch me fill up my water bottle at a waterfall. According to people around here, they tend to hide - not my experience, sat right on a rock and watched me.

    I am so glad you are curious about the plane - so am I! Thanks for the research…It is a pretty small plane, but that is all I know so far. I am going to be asking around now that I am back in 'civilization'.
    On

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear IMSMarisaS,It took 2.25 hours to hike the equipment to the lake and 2 hours to hike it back!

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear IMSKyleH,the weather has been variable. When we first got here it was warm (60s) and bright blue sky. However, for the last 8 days, we have had more unsettled weather: fog, cold (low 40s at times), gale force winds one day, pouring rain for 2 days. We won't know any information about the samples we collected for a bit. I will be in touch with the researchers throughout the year to see what they learn after analyzing the material.

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear IMSChaseG,There is very little flatland in Greenland - trust me the hikes I have been on have less than 1% flatland. The lakes are either formed by glacial melt or snow melt running into them. There is a pretty easy way to spot a glacially fed lake from the air. Look through my blogs and see if you can find it.

    IMSParkerB.

    How cold was the water?

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear Zachary,I love collecting sediment cores - there is definitely and process and a rhythm to the procedure especially on a little zodiac boat. It is so hard to pull out the cores and I relied on Jason to do the heavy lifting.

    Sam Krason

    Hi, Mrs. Ciarametaro, I was wondering what the climate is like there in Greenland and at Crash lake. Also, what are the most common species of animals that live there.

    Sam Krason

    What were the rocks like at the lake, and how did the aircraft debris get there

    IMSSamK

    i forgot to put the ims in front of my name

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear Sam,I am not sure what you mean about the rocks … maybe you could help me out with a little more detail. We do not know how the airplane material got there, we are currently researching the situation.
    On

    Chloe

    Hey Mrs.C I was wondering how cold the water was when you guys rode across the lake.

    Chloe

    Hi Mrs.C how did you make anchors for your boats and was it hard to make them.

    IMSKelseyC

    Dear, Mrs.Ciarametaro i hope you are having a wonderful time on your trip. My question for you is what portable equipment gadgets you hauled across the lake.

    IMSBenG

    Hey Mrs. Ciarametaro!Sorry that this is so late! I have barely had wifi this entire summer, I was on a trip of my own. Your entire trip was so entriging. All the sights were so incredible and I can imagine what is would be like to go there myself. It's so cool that there was all the debris there. I wonder if you know if they know what plane or who was in the crash? What do you guys eat up there? Well I look forward to school and I'm sure you will tell us all about your trip there as well.

    IMSLaurenK

    Hi Mrs. Ciarametaro! It looks like you are having a blast on your summer vacation in Greenland and on "Crash Lake." You have been on all of these incredible once in a life time adventures and I can't wait to here about them in science class once school comes around. By looking at these pictures, there seems to be like a mist floating about to make it all seem a bit hazy so how's the climate been daily? On the other hand it looks like your enjoying the lovely nature, but I bet it is a different experience than you were previously use to, so how's all the testing going? Is all your equipment working properly? And along with that have you made any incredible, interesting and or shocking results in all your sediment tests? After all, I hope you have a good time on these last few days of your vacation. See you in September.

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear IMSKelseyC,when we go out on the lake to do work we bring out 3 spools of large line, each tied to a large rock to act as anchors, 2 smaller spools and a corer apparatus, a GPS unit, gas can, long waterproof tape measure w/a bag of rocks on the end (to determine depth), coring tubes and odds and ends for repairs. It gets a bit tricky in a little zodiac with either 2 or 3 of us and all the gear; but I loved it!! When it was rainy and/or cold we would go coring and I always volunteered to help out.

    IMSNicholasR

    Hi Mrs. Ciarametaro, How has the trip been so far? Have you had mostly good luck or not? Has the weather been good at all? Bonus Question: Was that a plane wreck that you found?
    I'll be happy to read your answers.

    IMSBrianL

    What happened to the/a plane to have left so much broken debris?

    IMSBrianL

    What happened to the/a plane to have left so much broken debris?

    IMSMaeveD

    Hi Mrs. Ciarametaro, I hope you are having a great time on your trip! What were you hoping to find when you were coring the sediment?

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear IMSLaurenK,the weather has been a bit unsettled. In my daypack, I always have layers of clothing - wool hat/mittens, over coat, rain gear, etc. We have started hikes bundled up and came back to camp in shorts. Overall, the temperature ranges from 40-mid 60's . Very comfortable. I actually like it when it is a bit cooler - makes hiking more enjoyable. When working on the boat, it is always cold - glacial water is SO CHILLY!

    Sampling went very well - we only had one piece of equipment that did not function correctly - it is used to determine the depth of the water by lowering a probe into the water. Thankfully, field scientists are quite resourceful, so we used a tape measure w/a bag of rocks tied on the end to lower into the water and measure the depth. There is always a plan b,c, d, e, etc…

    See you soon - thanks for following along…
    Mrs. C

    On A

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear IMSNicholasR,The trip has been phenomenal! Each day I learn so much - in my journal, I have a science content section for all the information that I am learning out here. The weather has been a bit unsettled; however, we were able to gather samples at least 90% of the time. We have no idea about the plane crash - we need to do some research. Are you up to it?

    Tina Ciarametaro

    We are looking for different layers suggesting when the glaciers deposited sediments into the lake. If we can find macro-organisms in the sediment, we can date the age of the layer that we find them in.

    IMSKayleyB

    Hello, I hope you are enjoying your trip. What type of gear is a necessity for this trip?
    What is the weather like in your opinion, and how did it affect your trip?

    Tina Ciarametaro

    The gear question is interesting… I should post my packing list. Your personal gear should be very compact and light - 2 pairs of hiking pants, 2 insulated tops, a few overcoats, good rain gear, warm hat and mittens, underclothing, a really good pair of hiking boots - sturdy, waterproof and should fit like a second skin on your feet - you basically live in them. I also brought a pair of slip on shoes to wear around camp after our work day. After living the in field for two weeks you realize just how little one needs and how much extra stuff we have in general. I hope I do not forget that lesson.On

    Carter T

    What kinds of plants and animals did you see on the ferry ride over and around your base camp? Is there enough fertile soil for plants to grow?

    IMSCurtleyH

    Hello Mrs. Ciarametaro do you know how the plane crashed?

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear Carter T,we have seen moss, lichen, arctic harebells, arctic cotton grass, greenland blueberries, moss campion and mountain sorrel.

    Tina Ciarametaro

    Dear IMSCurtleyH, we don't know yet when/how the plane crashed but I found myself on the same type of plane on my flight from Albany to Boston coming home. I looked out my window and it was the same type of wing. YIKES!!!