June 13, 2008 – Snow Pit Chicks
*** HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13th!***
As I sit here looking out the window of the Sat Camp shack, the clouds are creeping across the horizon toward us. The meteorologist folks in the group have examined many weather models and have concluded that we have a weather system moving our way. Winds could be in the 40 mile per hour range…or they might not. Temps will probably drop…or they might not. Visibility should diminish…or it may not. So, we’ve decided to prepare for the worst even though we don’t really know what will happen. Bonnie and Tony spent the afternoon bracing supplies with straps and moving objects on the ground to a higher location so they won’t become buried. A person takes weather forecasts at home for granted. You can watch the evening news and have a pretty good idea what to expect for tomorrow. Here, there is nobody sitting at the National Weather Service reporting what will happen at Summit Camp. One thing we can count on each day is: cool, with snow on the ground, sunny with the possibility of clouds and the wind will blow at some point throughout the day!
Looking out across the Bally Building from Balloon Island the clouds move in as camp readys for the pending storm.
I took myself on a little adventure today; walked out to the "snow pit”. A team of ladies is studying snow at Summit and have dug an enormous cavern of a hole about 1km SE of camp. I thought it would be nice to see their handy work and was astonished when I arrived. They had dug two pits; each was 3 meters deep (about 10 feet, the height of a basketball hoop!).
Kristina Song helps her team dig a 10 foot deep pit to study the layers of the snow. The all female team works out in the elements all day with no shelter and exherts more effort than any other team at Summit Camp. Impressive!
Below is the project description from Zoe Courville’s "Exploratorium” webpage. You should check it out and see a whole other perspective on polar research and life, she has spent many a late night putting her website material together (she even has video!):
http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/author/zoe-courville/
Analyzing ice crystals for clues about climate change
In polar areas, snow falls and rarely melts, resulting in layers that build up over time. In Greenland, layers of snow have accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years to a depth of two miles. Snow falling at the surface starts to change almost as soon as it lands on the ground: Smaller snow grains begin to fuse together into larger, more rounded crystals. These changes in the snow occur at the surface, and at depth, until the snow becomes compressed into ice from the weight of the snow above.
A wealth of information about past climate is contained in the snow itself and in the air bubbles trapped in the spaces between the particles of snow. To fully understand this climate record, scientists need to understand the changing snow. Research scientist and engineer Zoe Courville is working in Greenland as part of an ongoing effort to understand how snow layers evolve. She’s studying snow pits—excavations that scientists dig to reveal the different layers in the snowpack.
Let the digging begin.
Chris the medic has affectionately dubbed them the "Snow Pit Chicks”. They have dubbed themselves the "Snow Freaks” and even had t-shirts made. The front says I Love Snow, and the back says Snow Freaks, Summit 08! So, meet the team (Snow Pit Chicks/Snow Freaks):
(from left) Zoe (Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab; CCREL), Elyse (Hamilton), Kristina (Bowdoin), Maria (Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany), and Tom (University of Vermont.) The team takes a break in front of their mobile office known as The Tomato, The Bean, The Spaceship, etc. (photo courtesy Zoe Courville)
Tom (pictured above) had to leave on the first flight out...making this an all female team.
Food Update:
Lunch: Tuna melt, corn chowder, grilled eggplant sandwiches. I didn’t make it to lunch and only got a tuna melt from the leftovers fridge. It was good, but I hear the corn chowder was outstanding!
Dinner: Rib Eye roast, potatoes and carrots, "Drunken mushroom pie”, and salad. For dessert: I had the last of the pecan bars, if you read the journal yesterday you know how glad I was to get one more!
Stay Warm!!