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.

April 5 – Good data collecting day

The day started out with the intention to do nothing but snow surveys (get the remaining 3 1km-long transects done) and then at 5pm go with Jen to look at finger rafting and check on Mani’s GPS buoy array. Of course things never go as planned but it was a good science day regardless. Peter Wadhams requested the use of my wonderful survey team to get an “APLIS North” line surveyed relative to the command hut as that had been the key location from which he did all his submarine transects. This was vital to the data integration of the project so we delayed the start of the next snow lines until this was done. It took a couple of hours with several folks to help so I stayed behind and did some prepping to learn how to take soot samples for Tom Grenfell as part of the snow measurements. Just before lunch the snow team set out and we finished the first 500m of line #3 following behind Jackie and Bruce in less than an hour with a full snow pit at 500m and a first attempt to take a soot sample. The procedure was slow because I tried to just do the whole thing right out of his box for this first effort and so it took me about 20 minutes. To collect snow samples for soot analysis the directions said to put on these fleece gloves that were very bulky with food-handler plastic gloves over them that were tight around the gloves and also my fingers. With these cumbersome things I was to open one sterile ziplock, insert another into it, and then facing into the wind (-15F with 10-20mph winds) get a clean sample with a clean spoon and load up a gallon zip lock with snow from a clean location. Opening and especially closing the ziplock bags was very difficult with those gloves. Since the bags are used for soot collection they can’t be the nifty freezer version, rather the simple perfectly clear ones which are not easy to handle in the cold and therefore even more difficult to handle if you have bulky tight fleece with slippery plastic gloves over. I was kneeling into the wind like that for about 20 minutes trying to get all the baggies to work and keep the sample as clean as possible. The snow pit crew finished and headed back to lunch while I continued to struggle. Robert waited in his usual incredibly patient way and then we walked back for lunch.

While walking back I thought about how to do this more effectively and by the time we started up again for Line #5, I had modified my technique to take a sample in about 5 minutes thanks to Bill Simpson’s expertise. He recommended I use my own liner gloves and then put on two layers of the plastic gloves over those since they fit my hand better and they were thinner for easier hand maneuvering. Additionally, while everyone was digesting lunch for a half hour, I prepared the next round of samples by already setting up the double bags with a labeled number inside. I tried this out at the end point of Line #3 at the 700m mark and managed to cut out the most time consuming parts experienced the first time. During that snow pit, we checked out the state of the lead (see photos) that had opened earlier and sure enough it had compressed since yesterday but was still too wide to get across safely with sampling gear so we officially declared line #3 to be a 700m line with a lead at the end (same lead at the end of Line #4).

Also Bill suggested that we take some samples at the center stake near the runway and then also a few extras to see what the camp contamination is. So we took soot samples also at 200m as well as 500m and 1000m on line #5. I showed Robert how to take soot samples because I had to leave a little after 4pm to prepare for a trip with Jen out to the active ridging area. As I did not know what to expect, I took a large sleeping bag and a harness with rope in case someone fell in as this was a very active area with potential danger that someone could fall in.

I had to do a “hurry up and wait” patiently for Jen to return from preparing the site for the ridge survey with dive hut. She came in right on time at 5pm but was hungry and tired after drilling in a ridge all day so I took a short trip with Pablo to see his buoy at the end of Line #4 (see photos).

After that Jen was charged up again so I buddied up with Pablo and Jen buddied with Pat and we proceeded on two snow machines to the active ridge area. We arrived at one of the GPS units I had brought and I proceeded to download the data onto my laptop. This was possible in the end but I experienced yet another learning moment. At -20F in bright sunlight it is very hard to see your screen (put a plastic bag over my head). Additionally, the mouse pad didn’t respond well. I found that I needed to keep my palm over the mouse pad to warm it up enough for the mouse to show so I could move the cursor to transfer the data. In the end it all worked out but it took 8 minutes to do a simple data dump from one folder. I now know to bring a parka for my laptop and put it over my head to make warm tent to work with it. We walked around after that and found a freshly formed ridge about 2 meters high (see photos) that wasn’t there yesterday when Jen had visited. We also came across some slushy spots which consisted of fresh snow on the top, then this mushy/slushy layer, then hard ice on the bottom. The mushy/slushy layer was about 10 cm thick with 5 cm of snow on top of it and some pretty thick ice below it (more than Jen’s knife blade (4”) – see photos). I took out my compass and found the camp to be due east of our position. As we walked back to our snow machines, Pat found this great curved crack (see photos). We then went a ways on snow machines, found another really cool radial crack and had to back up to find a better way over the newly formed ridges. It took a bit but we made it back in time for dinner.

Another long hard day! Just finishing up the download of these pictures and this journal entry. I transferred the latest files to Robert for upload e-mails to Hans and for PolarTREC. A message came in from Hans with some incredible news. Katya’s first tooth (which had been loose just after I left) just came out today. I was feeling both the joy of this first event and the sadness of not being there but I returned a message and now have Colleen’s (my sister’s) phone number so I can call her house tomorrow and wish everyone a happy Easter. I don’t feel too horrible about missing it because we celebrated Easter as a family the weekend before I left, but I do feel sad that I missed the first tooth coming out. I am so glad I am taking the rest of the week off when I get home as I will need that time to reconnect with my family and recount with them the many adventures they have had (snow day for Katya at school today and her first tooth (lower left center) just came out). It seems early because she is not even 5 ½ years old yet, but I guess this is when all those wonderful things start to happen.

I need to get some sleep now. It’s 11pm and we are up at 6am with a full packed scheduled every day.