Today was mostly about logistics. I found a variety of definitions of logistics on the Internet, but the best one is: Logistics - The science of planning, organizing and managing activities that provide goods or services. -- (MDC, LogLink / LogisticsWorld, 1997). What’s involved in the logistics for a PolarTREC experience? Planning and practice.
Practice makes perfect.
Communication is foremost, since that is a cornerstone of the PolarTREC program as we send out reports from remote locations at either ends of the earth. In order to be able to communicate, we’ve learned how to upload our journals and pictures onto the PolarTREC website. Some of the Polar TREC teachers will be working and living in locations with reliable, fast access to the Internet. I will be at a remote camp in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska and will need to use a satellite phone for all my communication. There was time today to practice with the Iridium phones by making a call to someone far from Fairbanks.
Paula Dell practices using the satellite phone.
There was also time today to talk about how to dress for success in polar climates. CPS stands for CH2M Hill Polar Services. They’re the company that provides logistical support to NSF_funded research programs in the Arctic. Their southern counterpart, Raytheon, provides logistical support to all things Antarctic. We’ll all be working closely with these companies to make sure that we are ‘covered’ for all situations.