Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 06/01/2009 - 10:27
Forums
Ocean, Atmosphere, Sea Ice, and Snowpack Interactions

hi, this is Duane, MarTenya, And Colin. We were wondering how do you guys go to place to place in that cold weather? Do you use car or do you walk ever where? Is it hard doing this kind of job or easy?

Wed, 06/03/2009 - 11:57

Betsy Wilkening

Hello,
   I'm not sure where you guys are from, but I normally live in the desert in Arizona where we have to worry about cars overheating and people getting heat exhaustion and heat stroke.  The Arctic has different considerations in the winter and spring. 
We were able to use 4-wheel drive trucks that were operated by the people at the BASC (Barrow Arctic Science Consortium).  I had never driven on ice or snow before, but it wasn't too difficult up there because everything was so dry.  There are roads that are plowed to remove the blown snow that go around the research center and the town of Barrow.  Some scientists had to use a truck to reach their areas where they were working.  We also used a truck to go into town.
When the scientists went out on the sea ice or further out to work on the tundra they used snow machines or skidoos as some people call them.  Many of us worked within the area at BASC so we just walked out into the snowfields.  You had to be careful to stay on the paths that were set up so that you would not walk through and contaminate someone's sampling area.  This wasn't too difficult unless the wind was blowing.  Then the blown snow would obscure the paths set up.
It was hard for me to work in the wind when it was -40C and -40F with the wind chill.  Both temperature scales are the same at that point.  Even with 5 layers on my head and goggles, I would still get a headache when the wind snuck into my layers.