Hi Everyone! I'm up in Fairbanks, Alaska for a week of professional development and training in the PolarTREC program. I applied for this amazing program last October, found out I was a finalist a few weeks ago, had a final interview by conference call last Tuesday, and found out that I had been selected on Tuesday night! (That was one of the best calls I've gotten in a while...) Four days later I was on a plane to Fairbanks and here I am, thilled to death to be a part of it all. This week there are 12 teachers along with me learning the ins and out of the program.
In addition to the participants present at the orientation and training, remote guest speakers are able to present to us in real time through Webinars.
I will be aboard the US Coast Guard cutter Healy, a 240-foot long polar icebreaker, from 2 August through 6 September. The ship will depart Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island in the Aleutians and proceed north through the Bering Sea and Bering Straight into the Arctic Ocean. The mission will primarily involve detailed mapping of the extended continental shelf in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska and Canada, accompanied by the Canadian Coast Guard cutter Louis S. St-Laurent. In addition to bathymetric studies all sorts of other oceanographic data will be retrieved such as sea floor coring and dredging, ice studies including buoy deployment, water chemistry monitoring, etc. We may get as far as 84° N 120° W on this cruise depending on conditions. Our cruise will conclude at Barrow, Alaska.
I'm busy and tired but in a good way-- every day so far has been cram-packed with information about the program, polar research, technology, and our roles as teachers working with a research team (our agenda is attached at right under "associated files".) For example, we are learning more today about the Virtual Base Camp, online journaling and digital photo management and how we'll be in communication from remote, cold parts of the world (satellite phone training tomorrow!) Yesterday I tried on a Mustang Suit! This will be mandatory apparel whenever I'm out of the ship's interior rooms and passages.
Testing out the fit of a Mustang Suit at the CH2M HILL polar services warehouse in Fairbanks, AK
This is where my journals, photos, etc. will live so set a bookmark. There may not be much content yet but stay tuned- more to come!
In addition to working hard we are eating well!! Last night I enjoyed wild Alaska sockeye salmon at The Pumphouse, a restaurant located in Fairbanks near the confluence of the Cheena and Tanana rivers.
Bill getting mauled by Jeff Peneston's model polar bear. Jeff was a 2009 PolarTREC teacher stationed on the icebreaker Odin.
Best- Bill