So today I had my logistics call. This is where the ARCUS folks, Katie Breen and Kristin Fischer, Ben Fitzhugh, the project Principal Investigator, Jason Buenning, from VECO, and I had a conference call to discuss the details of my itinerary to and from Russia and the gear that I would need. ARCUS and the NSF help teachers by loaning some of the more expensive equipment to them for their expedition.
There weren’t any big surprises on the call. We talked about:
- The dates of my expedition, which have finally been nailed down. I will fly out of Seattle to Seoul on July 11. (eek! One month from today!) Then we will spend the night in Seoul before we continue on to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island. Then I will return from Russia on August 22, again flying through Seoul, and spending the night before continuing on directly to Seattle – arriving on August 23. This is a good itinerary in my mind since there is very little chance now of any of my bags being lost in Los Angeles (like LAST year…) since I won’t be going any where NEAR LA!
Laughing
Using the satellite phone. There should be plenty of minutes left from last year to do my daily uploads of journals and pictures. Plus we will arrange to add some more minutes for one or two live calls from the field.
My gear list, which is extensive. From my experiences last year, we modified it slightly, but I will still be receiving a big shipment of jackets, rain gear, gloves, hats, sleeping bag and pad, backpack, dry bags and other sundries in the next week or so.
Our basic operations while in the field. We will be spending most of our time on shore this year – only using the ship, Iskatel, to get to and from the Kuril Islands and the port of Korsakov and to move between the islands. We will be working primarily in two locations this year – Vodopadnaya on Simushir and Drobnyye on Shiashkotan. To see what we did at these sites last year click here for Simushir or click here for Shiashkotan . We will spend about 8-10 days at each site. Only 30 days left to go before I'm on my way to Russia again!
Who will I be going with, you ask? Well, take a look at my next post!
Ms (Misty) Nikula