Life can be strange. On this first day of spring, I am sitting in a laboratory in the Arctic working on my computer. I am in a room full of people speaking French, while listening to my alma-mater the University of Arizona play in the first round of the Final Four Basketball tournament. I'm not sure which is the strangest part of that whole statement, but I will let the reader decide. (Die-hard UA fans will understand that one.)
Last night several members of the OASIS team enjoyed a delicious Thai dinner in Barrow. The owner, Sonny was the only person working and he did an excellent job serving the 20+ people in attendance. We took up the entire restaurant, so he locked the door outside.
OASIS members enjoying dinner at a Thai Restaurant in Barrow, AK before colleagues return to France.
Today we got the opportunity to set up our sampling platform for capturing fresh snow, diamond dust and wind-blown snow. We used some old school desks that were lying around outside the building. This involved getting the desks out to the snow, anchoring them in the snow, and then freezing our sampling trays to the desks.
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Diamond dust is formed when moisture is wicked out of the atmosphere. It takes several hours for it to fall to the ground. Florent Dominé and his team of researchers are looking at diamond dust in a microscope to see its physical properties. It can contain up to 10 times the mercury concentration of snow.
Professional photograher Spencer Brown lining up a shot through the snow bank.
This afternoon we met an Inupiaq elder, Kenneth Toovak, as he was touring the Barrow Arctic Research Center (BARC). He has worked with Arctic researchers since the 1940's. Thanks to some of his efforts, we have a beautiful research facility to work in. He knows that his world is changing and wants to know what we are doing to prepare for it. I guess that is the million dollar question that we all need to respond to. As he was leaving, he warned us of the dangers of the polar bear in the area. I am still safe from polar bears here, but it looks like the Arizona Wildcats are fierce this March. Go CATS!!!!!
Surface hoar frost forming on plants