Update
Today is a quiet day. We’re transiting to a new glacier to collect more data. We’re heading through the ice and it’s getting quite cold out.
Ice forms on the portholes on the NBP as we move closer to the continent.
It’s a great day to catch up on processing and organizing the data we’ve already collected and to have a little fun.
Ricardo plays darts with a nerf gun; Kathleen and Dominique make a countdown paper chain; Amy and Dominique play in the ping pong tournament (photo by Michael Trombatore) against Alex and Valerie (not pictured).
Meet the Scientists: Dr. David Porter
Dr. David Porter in the Dry Lab of the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer.
CTD Scientist Post-doctoral Research Scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Institute of Columbia University
What do they do?
David’s main research focus is ice-ocean interactions, looking at how warm water can melt ice shelves and fresh water melt impacts the ocean (sound familiar?), in Greenland. On this research cruise, he’ll be helping to run the CTD equipment looking for different water masses, doing analysis, generating new data and fitting our expedition’s data together with other data previously collected.
How did they get where they are now?
David originally started out as a meteorologist—a scientist who studies the weather. At age 13, David’s interest in science was sparked by a thunderstorm where the sky turned green and hail poured from the sky. But his love of hands on field work and his always changing interests carried him from studying the weather to studying ocean-atmosphere interactions for his PhD to researching ice-ocean interactions now. David’s experience across different fields gives him an edge in combing observations, data, and mathematical system models together.
Favorite part of the job
David loves being out in the field, doing hands-on research and collecting data himself. One of his favorite parts of science is that it allows him to use tools and skills he’s learned to teach himself new things. In science, you use your own skills you’ve developed to discover something new. He says it’s like putting the pieces of a puzzle together.
Fun Facts
David loves sweets. He’s also a hobby addict (just like me!), with a variety of interests including playing banjo, building musical instruments by hand, and skiing.
A quote from David
One of the best things about science is that “the more we know, the more questions we have.”
Learn more
Visit David’s website.