Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/26/2009 - 12:49
Forums
SEDNA Beaufort Sea Ice

When you were doing this project did anything go wrong that made you have to restart or change during a certain process?

Wed, 04/01/2009 - 16:47

Robert Harris

Hi Tiana,
Great question!  When your working in the cold sometimes things take longer than you plan.  It can be best to use simple equipment.  The hardest thing for me was helping Dr. Geiger set out the transect lines.  One of the days was -15 C and very windy.  It was hard to measure the distance between flags and keep the line straight and then anchor the whippy flags in place.
The scientists working on GAVIA the robot submarine had to completely dismante the submarine so that they could ship it on comercial airlines.  They rebuilt it in the command hut.  Then they programmed the submarine and measured the ice thickness over a several day period.  Then they took it apart so they could ship it home.
One of the things that did happen is I went on the ice thinking that Dr. Geiger and I would be measuring snow cover and snow density.  When we got there we found two postdoctoral (Phd's) researchers that were available and Dr. Geiger trained them and they went around doing the measurements.  This freed me up to go out with a number of different researchers that needed help and see more of the research.  I also got to help out in the command hut.
It is always important to be flexible and willing to help out when you are out in the field.
Best wishes,
Robert Harris