June 8, 2008 – Foggy Sunday
Ahh, Sunday, the day of rest. The Summit Camp staffers get one day off per week, and today was that day. So, it was leftovers for lunch and dinner and the whole camp moved at a little slower pace. Everybody has been working for 16 or more hours per day. Rest was well received.
As the fog settled in, the sun shone through and lit up the cargo storage bench. Most things at summit camp are lifted off the ground due to drifting. If these boxes were left on the snow they would be burried in a matter of days!
Fog rolled into camp around noon today. It gave everything an eerie glow and large ice crystals started to collect on instruments, air tubes and slow walkers. All of the pathways to various research projects are lined with bamboo poles and small flags, I now know why. I left Sat Camp for dinner at the Big House and had to follow bamboo poles all the way home! Visibility is very low!
Many of the instruments for sampling air are located far away from the data collectors. Teflon tubing brings air from collectors to sensors. Here, the tube is collecting ice crystals on a cold foggy day. Notice the black tube in the background. It stays warmer because it absorbs more energy from the sun and no ice collects on it.
I spent most of the day today working on "Live from IPY”, a webinar where the researchers and I give a presentation to the public via the internet. We are pretty much ready to go with lots of good pictures (most will be new, previously unseen pictures!) and information about the research. There is still time to get registered if you are interested, just go to http://www.polartrec.com/live-from-ipy/overview and follow the instructions.
All paths at Summit Camp are lined with poles. The poles guide travelers back to the main camp during snow storms and fog. This shows the path from Sat Camp to the Big House on a particularily foggy day. The Big House is only a few steps away in the fog but would be nearly impossible to find without the bamboo poles.
From the PolarTREC website:
10 June 2008 - Join PolarTREC teacher Craig Beals and the research team in Summit, Greenland for a **Live from IPY event. Learn more about their work on Greenland Atmospheric Studies. Event starts at 9:00AM Alaska Daylight Time [7:00AM HDT, 10:00AM PDT, 11:00AM MDT, 12:00PM CDT, 1:00PM EDT].
Stay Warm!!
PS. I thought I would share another website. This site will let you view a live webcam, the current weather, and weather plots...enjoy!