A morning walk in the brisk -24 degrees F air, on top of the mostly frozen Chena River will certainly wake you up at 5:00 in the morning. Although mostly cloudy Ursa Major, the big dipper, shows me the compass direction as it peaks out from behind the clouds. The pockets of open water appear black against the white snow.
thermometer
Truck on Chena
Truck driving on the Chena River
Soon the clouds part and were replaced by a spot light shining across the sky, the beam of light slowly dims and spreads, only to return, widening and slowly undulating. The aurora borealis, the northern lights!!!. I lay down in the snow on the bank of the river soaking in the north light show.
I am one of thirteen science teachers from around the country have converged on Fairbanks, to begin our participation in PolarTREC. Thanks to scientists, ARCUS and the National Science Foundation, over the next nine months, we will be scattered across the arctic from Russia to Greenland and across the Antarctic from McMurdo to the South Pole. This week ARCUS is training us to work with researchers in remote isolated areas under extreme climate conditions. Not only are we being trained to survive in severe weather, but also what to wear and how to stay warm.
Antarctic clothes
Mindy, another PolarTREC teacher gets a load of Antarctic extreme weather gear.
We also attended training sessions on how to communicate our experiences from these remote areas to our students and to the public.
It wasn't all work one evening we had a wonderful time wandering through the famous ice carvings exhibit here in Fairbanks.
Ice Park
Ice Shark