Survival in the Field. Safety First!
Sometimes scientists are required to travel to locations of extremes: extreme distances, extreme temperatures, extreme winds, and extreme dangers. Today's training was a great look at some of the important topics of safety while doing scientific field work. Our project will take place at McMurdo Station, Antarctica and safety in the field will be the number one priority.
To be safe while doing scientific field work in a polar setting, there are several things you want to remember:
- Communicate with your team.
- Adapt to the situation.
- Dress correctly to stay warm, dry, and happy.
- Use your knowledge and equipment carefully.
- Be alert to potential issues.
By following these guidelines, everything should go well in the field, but what happens if things do go wrong and you need to call for help? You cannot pick up your cell phone in the Arctic or Antarctica (they don't work). Instead, you need to use a satellite phone. Roy, from SRI Industries, taught us the basics of using Iridium satellite phones to contact phones all over the world from the Arctic and Antarctica.
Can you see some of the differences between a satellite phone and a cell phone?
This is how the satellite phone (left) compares to a modern cell phone (right). What looks different to you?
The highlight of Roy's fabulous presentation was a chance to make a satellite phone call. I called my wife's mother to wish her a Happy Birthday!
Can you hear me now? My first call was dropped, but the second sounded really good. (Photo courtesy of Jim Miller.)
Another major safety issue we addressed today was dressing appropriately to stay dry, warm, and happy in the Arctic and Antarctic. We visited the awesome folks at CH2M HILL and they demonstrated some of the basic techniques of dressing appropriately. Here are a few tips:
*Dress in layers. Layers close to your body should wick moisture away from your skin. Change layers to adjust for the weather. *Find a system that works for you. Stick with it!
Matt, from CH2M HILL, shows us how to layer up and dress for safety in the field.
I learned a lot from Matt, who has a lot of experience in the Arctic and Antarctica, espeically about being prepared. I also really enjoyed all the folks I met at CH2M HILL. These Arctic professionals really know what they're doing! That gives me a lot of confidence that we'll be well prepared for the adventure!
This is Matt's emergency field kit. He would be well prepared for any situation.
Mike (who plans to follow the advice below)
This seems like advice a polar scientist would want to follow.