April 6 – Wrap up of Snow Survey

After breakfast, my snow team was ready to head out but Jenny caught me and asked me to prepare with Andrew to go out and survey the perimeter of leads and ridges within 2 km of the camp. We spent about an hour finding gear and prepping and then set off down Line #1 to the end. A few meters past the end of the line is the detailed ridge study ridge so we used that as a good starting point. We set a point just a few centimeters from a crack between the level ice and the ridge. We took Jen’s fantastic drill and used that to make a hole and then lowered down on a tape measure with a special brass fitting attached at the end which would snap close in the middle after measuring. We lowered it down and then brought it back up again until it just touched the bottom of the ice. We recorded ice thickness and freeboard with this reference. Then we gently tugged on the line and the brass fitting folded like a pocket knife into itself so we could pull it up the hole. We then measured 10m away from the hole perpendicular to the ridge along the line #1 bearing and took a picture from there. We also measured the width of the ridge and I used the tape measure at a distance to get a sense of the aspect ratio between block lengths and heights. Andrew was wonderful at teaching me how to use an ice chisel to test the snow covered ice over the rubbles of the ridge so that I could put my feet in the right places. Basically you put the ice chisel where you want to walk and then if it feels firm that is where you put your boot and proceed. We did 3 more sites like this before lunch (station 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3) and then headed back for lunch. It was enough to get a flavor of how to characterize and survey ridges and learn a bit about the detailed dynamics of how ridges form.

In many ways this ice camp is turning into an intense learning program. As one of the PI’s (Principal Investigators) I have to be able to make everything work or ask someone who knows how. I am finding that I am spending most of my time doing process engineering. I have to operate most of the instruments and usually prep a system, train up a team, get them up to speed, and then let them on their own while I prep up the next system. I found this to be the most useful contribution I could make at the PI level since I have engineering experience but this is my first ice camp. I also get to learn how to do things I’ve never done before from practical experts who understand the common sense parts of the science. It has been a great learning experience not just for me but for everyone. We all tried to benefit from each others talents and then we tried to support each other when we faced new challenges. The positive attitudes, the jokes, and the comebacks from the “Arctic stupid” moments were only possible because everyone was there to constantly support everyone. We all quickly accepted ourselves as fallible human beings and started from that common reference point. This is probably the key to our success because we didn’t have too many instances of hot head overrides.

After lunch, it was time to teach the two UK post-docs how to operate the GPR (ground-penetrating radar). The hook up was really straightforward but it took about a half hour to figure out how to get a signal because you have to hook up the antenna to the data recorder first and then plug in the battery to the machine so that (like a computer) it can boot up, check for peripheral connections and then the signal starts to flow. We did some tests down the runway and took much of the afternoon to get enough of a feel for it to be ready to use it by tomorrow. The two UK post-docs (Katharine and Adrian) will make runs with it tomorrow.

At about 4pm, I was asked to make a “FedEx” run out to the end of Line #1. Jen had run out of whip it flags so I found the stash from Bruce’s bins and carried them out. It was the first walk I have taken alone and I really enjoyed it (with radio and flare gun). The temperatures and wind were mild (-5F with little wind) and the sun was shining with a few wispy cirrus clouds overhead. It gave me a chance to just walk and think about what I really need to focus on next.

Got back, sorted out the day’s issues and spent the evening learning how to use some software to view our imagery. A bit of a slow day exercise wise but a good day to think and transition to more science and field prep issues.

Time for dinner and a chance to think some more.