It's been a few weeks since I returned from our incredible PolarTREC orientation in Fairbanks, Alaska and my mind has not stopped buzzing about the adventure yet to come. Indeed I took a small hiatus from journaling, but as I collect my thoughts and begin daily preparations for the months ahead I'm excited to have you all back along for the ride! Enjoy a behind-the-scenes preview of the preparation involved for this extraordinary journey.
My growing collection of badges is a kind reminder of all involved in PolarTREC and Operation IceBridge Logistics.
Updates: Pre-field Logistics
What do I wear, how do I communicate, where will I sleep, where will I run? These questions and more were answered this week as I jumped online along with PolarTREC showrunners Sarah Bartholow and Janet Warburton, Operation IceBridge Project Manager John Woods, and PolarTREC Alum Mark Buesing for my pre-field logistics conference. In just over a month I will be Greenland-bound, on my way to join NASA's Operation IceBridge team to measure the changing ice sheets from a physics lab in the sky. I'll share with you some of the major take-aways involved in my preparation.
Not Your Average Nine-to-Five
John and Mark filled me in on the daily work life of an IceBridge Team member, and this is a summary of what I can expect:
* Early Rising--I'll be up and ready for my day by 6 or 6:30 a.m. when I can attend the morning weather meeting and board the P3. If the weather is a go and there are no maintenance issues to attend to on the plane, we will head out on a pre-planned flight path by 7 a.m. Once we are airborne I can work side by side with the instrument teams on board. I was happy to learn I can move back and forth between all instrument teams throughout my expedition to soak in as much knowledge as possible. I will also be able to spend time in the air chatting with classrooms and checking in with my students at Our Lady of Lourdes!
* Evening Debrief--The flights last about 8-9 hours coasting 1500 feet above glaciers and ice sheets, but the work day does not end when we touchdown. Each evening the team gathers for a science meeting to debrief on the day's route, science objectives, data collected, and maintenance and weather concerns. Often the team will cook or meet for group dinners, which is truly a statement on the family-like nature of the team in the field.
The NASA Doctor Will Sign Off On It...
A polar scientist spends her workday at the edge of the world in some of the most extreme and isolated regions in existence. You can imagine then that there are a lot of i's to dot and t's to cross in order to prepare and make sure that one is completely taken care of in the field. From lodging and food preparation to evacuation insurance and online training from NOAA, I received a list of documents I should be expecting within the next several weeks to make sure I am fully prepared for my time in Greenland.
This paperwork portion of the conversation should have been business as usual, but for some reason this was the part where I plastered an enormous grin across my mug (for all to see since this was a video web conference after all). What specifically about filling out paperwork warranted my giddy reaction? "The NASA Doctor will sign off on it. . ." This standard response to a question about an every day medical form became the point it really struck me: I am about to be a member of a NASA research team studying one of the most important, dynamic, and isolated regions of our planet, and I get to bring the whole experience back to my Coal Township community. While I have recognized the magnitude of this opportunity since the application process began, it was eight words referring to a standard logistics document that hit me with the reality of it all. I am a science teacher completing field research in the Arctic Circle; science objectives I connected to my classroom through online resources, projects and guest speakers in the past are going to be part of my daily experience for at least a month and part of my life and work as an educator for many years to come. Do you feel the excitement?
From Kanger to Thule
When I arrive in Greenland I will begin my experience completing land ice flights based out of the KISS building in Kangerlussuaq Greenland ("Kanger" for short), where I will likely share dorm-room-like accommodations with a female scientist either from the IceBridge team or another science group stationed out of Kanger. By the time I'm ready to head home I will be in Thule at the northern tip of Greenland working out of a United States Air Force Base. I'm learning that there are distinct differences between the two in terms of food, lodging, and community. I'll let you wait and find out exactly how different they are as I experience each during my time in the field.
KISS Building in Kangerlussuaq Greenland. Photo Credit: NASA Operation IceBridge/Jim Yungel, 2014
Running Glaciers
PolarTREC Alum Mark Buesing, who flew with IceBridge as a teacher in 2013 and continues to do outreach and stay connected to the research years later offered an incredible amount of advice and shared his experience during the logistics meeting. You'll hear more of his words of wisdom in a future post, but here I'll share the running advice. Having just begun training for a new half marathon this summer, I was happy to find a fellow distance runner in Mark and to hear that running in Kanger is wonderful and possible even after the lengthy work day described above. In mid- to late- April, the sun in Greenland stays out fairly late and I am excited to borrow some of the routes Mark and other team members have used in the past. It sounds like the conditions will be similar to those my sister and I experienced while burning out winter training runs at the Weiser State Park in Pennsylvania so luckily I can re-use some of that cold weather running gear this spring!
Talk of running alongside glaciers brought back memories from this 16 mile jaunt through the snowy woods of Pennsylvania's Weiser State Park.
Layer Up and Shades On!
I was advised to bring a supply of layers, good wool socks, hiking or snow boots, and protective eye-wear. C2HM Polar Services will provide me with an Arctic grade parka to use in Kanger, and I will be issued official gear for use in Thule when we arrive at the air force base. You can be sure I will try on my arctic level parka in our coal region spring weather for all to see before heading out. One note of advice from everyone on the call was a good pair of sunglasses to protect my eyes from the Arctic sun. Sarah suggested glasses to protect my eyes from glacial till in the air and I will definitely take her advice, especially on those evening runs. While I won't quite need the Antarctic level gear I'm modelling in the photo below, it will be important to be as prepared as possible during my time in the Arctic Circle.
While Greenland temperatures won't require the extent of cold weather gear shown in this photo, many layers and an Arctic Grade Parka will be necessary.
It looks like I'll be heading out anywhere between April 11-April 15. Travel dates are soft, and ultimately based on the final deployment date for the IceBridge team. Currently, they are working out of Tampa, FL installing IceBridge instruments on Miss Piggy, a NOAA P3 aircraft used as a hurricane hunter when she isn't flying with IceBridge.
In the next several weeks, look for posts about orientation itself, the Operation IceBridge Team meeting at Goddard Space Flight Center earlier this year, and some coal region connections with the Thule region. Thanks for reading and be sure to check out all of the expeditions happening this year! Thanks to Janet, Sarah, John, and Mark for all of the great advice on our pre-field call!!
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