Today we had the snow gear in better shape. We took two sleds (one for personal gear to stay warm and one for science gear). This worked out well because the sleds weren’t heavy and things were accessibly laid out. We went down line #4 with Jackie and Bruce coming behind us and then passing us. As we were learning, we found out that it was necessary to cover up the snow hole once completed to minimize topographic changes especially to prevent the build up of too much sastrugi along our line. We also discovered that it was best to follow behind Bruce and Jackie as they had less invasive instruments. The magnaprobe that Jackie was working left a small 1 cm hole that we could find at the stake. Since that measured snow depth, it was ideal to make the bulk density right on top of that hole as a cross calibration. We had improved in technique since the day before and were now moving at double speed. At the 400m line we called to command to let Bill Simpson know we were just about to do a snow pit. He came out with a binocular microscope that Matthew Sturm had loaned him and it was just super to see the ice crystals with this little portable microscope. The depth hoar was just lovely with big pyramid looking crystals as large as 1 cm that literally looked like diamonds. He also showed us the mid-layer which looked like storm trooper space ships with bullet crystals lined up in columns with capped ends. We entered a full stratigraphy including crystallography citing Bill’s expertise as the resource for that classification.
At the end of line #4 we finished the survey and looked at the lead which had formed at the very end of it. Pablo had put a buoy in there so we had a few minutes to look and enjoy. Katharine felt this was an appropriate time to make snow angels so we celebrated the end of the line doing that. Stephanie the cook arrived shortly thereafter and so we chatted with her. We wrapped up the equipment and all 4 of us walked back to camp for lunch. We transferred all the data from the note book to an excel sheet, weighed all the samples, and checked the data. It looked good. After lunch we set out again this time behind Bruce and Jackie and did Line #2. We finished and came back to camp by 5pm with time to spare for data logging and snow weights. We had our system down and hope to get the remaining legs done by tomorrow’s end.
The components for the ground penetrating radar arrived today, so as soon as the snow analysis is wrapped up, that is my next job. At a 5pm meeting of the PIs, Jen and I decided to plan a field trip for tomorrow out to the active region at the end of line #5. We will check the status of the buoys to ensure they are recording properly and then take a compass and tape measure to look at some finger rafting.
Things have slowly begun settling into a real science pace with one experiment following the other. Because we only get 2-3 days for each item, I have found it important to spend about a half day prepping that cargo we need to haul and then another half day doing one leg to get the procedure down. By the 3rd day we have it down but then it is over and time to plan the layout of the next experiment.
Never a dull moment.
06 April 2007
Start of Science Day - 3 April
Woke up this morning planning on getting a helo ride to the far side of a lead to deploy the last three of my GPS buoys. The horizon was flat (couldn’t tell ice from sky) so the chopper pilot had us wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. Two hours later he came into the command hut and said it was a scrubbed until after lunch. I had already sent out my survey team so I started prepping two sleds for snow pit density measurements. I got about 2/3 of the way done before lunch. After lunch Robert said he wanted the afternoon off from field work to catch up with journaling and since he had done every single survey line with me (and even the last one as lead) he really deserved some down time.
After lunch just as I was about to go out with my snow team, the helo pilot came in to ask if we wanted to try again in 15 minutes so Jackie and I scrambled to get buoys together and be ready at the helicopter. The two cooks came with us and we started to load up two buoys, garbage bag to mark the site, a shovel to fill the bags with snow for marking, and a compass to figure out heading, etc. Just as we were finishing up the helo safety briefing, one of the Tigress fellows (documentary folks) came over and asked to join. The pilot said we were leaving in one minute so the fellow (Richard) ran back, grabbed his camera and showed up. The rest of us were already in our seats and the pilot was getting ready to take off. Richard did this so quickly that the pilots had to radio the command that an additional passenger just came onboard. We were already quite tightly packed in, so it felt very uncomfortable. Jackie and I worked with the helo team to figure out where the first 5 buoys were deployed. We needed to pick up one of the buoys to make a parallelogram and we only had 7 buoys left because two got fried and two were being used for a compass as the floe we are on has been turning in this very dynamic region. So the helo landed near the farthest one out and Jackie hopped out to go get it. We went across the refrozen lead (about 1 km) to look for suitable sites. We put the first buoy in and then did a retrack back to the camp side buoys and aligned our trajectory relative to the first buoy, the deployed buoys, and the camp to triangulate the remaining buoys. At each landing we hopped off, grabbed our cooler buoy, carried it to a good location, connected to power, closed the box and loaded up the garbage bag with snow as a marker to find the buoys. We did this 3 times with the Tigress guy sweating to try and keep up with us. He said it felt like a commando raid science style.
When we got back from that exhausting effort, I had to get something quick and warm and then head out in the mid afternoon (about 3pm) to start the snow density survey. Adrian and Katharine came with me. Like with every new effort things start slow so I planned on just trying to complete Line #1 before dinner (4 hours). We started at the center stake so that we could do a dry run to see what equipment we might be missing. We were missing a couple of things so I walked back for them. At the 300m mark I realized that I had also forgotten the radio and the rifle so I walked all the way back for those. The measurements were laid out such that we did bulk density every 100m and then a snow pit every 500m. This gives us a total of 12 snow pits and 60 bulk densities. Bruce and Jackie were running the EM and the Magnaprobe, with the Magnaprobe recording snow thickness every 5 m which works out to 200 measurements a line or 1200 thicknesses for the array. It was slow going for the first line but by the end we figured out some improvements for the next day. When we got back we worked up the data, weighed our snow samples and modified our gear for the next day.
It was a warm day with temperatures in the 20’s F by mid-day. Thank goodness for layers because we were stripping them off. At dinner we experienced ice rime which feels like fog but is apparently somewhat different.
After lunch just as I was about to go out with my snow team, the helo pilot came in to ask if we wanted to try again in 15 minutes so Jackie and I scrambled to get buoys together and be ready at the helicopter. The two cooks came with us and we started to load up two buoys, garbage bag to mark the site, a shovel to fill the bags with snow for marking, and a compass to figure out heading, etc. Just as we were finishing up the helo safety briefing, one of the Tigress fellows (documentary folks) came over and asked to join. The pilot said we were leaving in one minute so the fellow (Richard) ran back, grabbed his camera and showed up. The rest of us were already in our seats and the pilot was getting ready to take off. Richard did this so quickly that the pilots had to radio the command that an additional passenger just came onboard. We were already quite tightly packed in, so it felt very uncomfortable. Jackie and I worked with the helo team to figure out where the first 5 buoys were deployed. We needed to pick up one of the buoys to make a parallelogram and we only had 7 buoys left because two got fried and two were being used for a compass as the floe we are on has been turning in this very dynamic region. So the helo landed near the farthest one out and Jackie hopped out to go get it. We went across the refrozen lead (about 1 km) to look for suitable sites. We put the first buoy in and then did a retrack back to the camp side buoys and aligned our trajectory relative to the first buoy, the deployed buoys, and the camp to triangulate the remaining buoys. At each landing we hopped off, grabbed our cooler buoy, carried it to a good location, connected to power, closed the box and loaded up the garbage bag with snow as a marker to find the buoys. We did this 3 times with the Tigress guy sweating to try and keep up with us. He said it felt like a commando raid science style.
When we got back from that exhausting effort, I had to get something quick and warm and then head out in the mid afternoon (about 3pm) to start the snow density survey. Adrian and Katharine came with me. Like with every new effort things start slow so I planned on just trying to complete Line #1 before dinner (4 hours). We started at the center stake so that we could do a dry run to see what equipment we might be missing. We were missing a couple of things so I walked back for them. At the 300m mark I realized that I had also forgotten the radio and the rifle so I walked all the way back for those. The measurements were laid out such that we did bulk density every 100m and then a snow pit every 500m. This gives us a total of 12 snow pits and 60 bulk densities. Bruce and Jackie were running the EM and the Magnaprobe, with the Magnaprobe recording snow thickness every 5 m which works out to 200 measurements a line or 1200 thicknesses for the array. It was slow going for the first line but by the end we figured out some improvements for the next day. When we got back we worked up the data, weighed our snow samples and modified our gear for the next day.
It was a warm day with temperatures in the 20’s F by mid-day. Thank goodness for layers because we were stripping them off. At dinner we experienced ice rime which feels like fog but is apparently somewhat different.
Good day for surveying - 2 April
Today was heavenly compared to yesterday. The temperatures were only around 0F and there was only the slightest breeze with no blowing snow. We had breakfast, checked our gear, put in a few more supplies, and headed out to start Line #2. There were no clouds in the sky and the sun felt warm. We started at the 100m mark and within about 15 minutes we were at the 200m mark. It was like night and day comparing to the day before. Without the wind, I could walk with 25m of tape measure behind me following me on the ground to the next station. Robert and I were in awe at how simple it had all become without that blowing wind. At about the 300m mark Nick Hughes came out to help and that made things go really fast. Near the 500 m mark we started to cross our first ridge (see Robert’s camera photos). 
With three of us, we were able to get over it pretty well so we were able to actually take a few minutes to get a good look at the ice at the ridge including the block sizes and the snow. On the other side was a wide smooth spot with frost flowers surrounded with their own little sastrugi snow drift (10cm scale). We tried to reach the bottom of the ice with our 3 foot length auger but never got there. The ice chippings were damp but we never hit water which felt odd because usually frost flower grow on top of thin black ice formed by a new lead but this was early spring so the ice was at its maximum. We crossed the second ridge on the other side and realized that this must be a lead that opened but then there was shearing so ridges formed on either side of the lead. On the other side the terrain smoothed out again and we were at the 900m mark when our two German colleagues joined us to help. At the end we put the 1000m mark and two red bags to mark it as Line #2. We then headed back to the center pole to start Line #3. Within an hour we had that surveyed out to the 500m pole thanks to all the help and headed back for lunch. So basically we managed 1500m of survey in the time it took us to do 500m the day before. Weather and the amount help made a huge difference.
At lunch (and the meals here by the way are just outstanding – see Robert’s journal), Jackie had mentioned that they saw lots of lead activity while in the helicopter, so our team should keep an eye out for any opening leads. It was like a premonition because we found one while preparing the 600 m mark. I had taken the snow mobile around to the right of the transect in search of a way to get around the ridge. I saw an opening but as I got closer I realized why. A lead had just opened up. It must have been because there was this crystal clear blue water about 1m wide in these 0F temperatures. With no wind, after three days of hard blowing, the ice started to move with all the momentum and stress it had built up. This was only my second day ever on a snow mobile so I decided to get the other two fellows on my team (Nick and Robert – the two German fellows had some duties back in Prudhoe to tend to their EM bird so they did not join us after lunch). As I drove the snow mobile back, I crossed another crack that was just starting to open (about 10 cm wide). I felt confident enough to cross that but I was wondering how far these things would open so I was glad to be on the camp side of this activity. I got Nick and Robert and we walked back to the two leads. When we reached the big one, we saw that it already had a few centimeters of ice (and hence my initial guess that I must have come across it just as it was forming). We radioed the location and they said thanks and we proceeded. I went around the ridge from the left and carefully kept an eye on the direction and activity of the lead. We surveyed up to 700m but the next mark was on the other side. We decided to call in again and this time I made the call and chatted with Jackie. She recommended (as Robert had also suggested) to stop the line there for today and head back tomorrow to check activity and assess at that point. Nick jumped across the lead and we put in the 725 flag and then we marked two additional flags on either side of the lead with measurements. The flags were placed at 715 and 717 m with a measure of 80cm opening. Tomorrow we’ll go back and measure that length again and look at the ice conditions. If they have stabilized, we will find a narrow spot to cross the lead and finish the line.
We called it in and told base camp we were returning to start up on the next line. We went back to get some more stakes and headed out to survey Line #6. It took about 2 hours to get that line done across the camp’s multi-year floe. The longest work was getting the 1000m pole and marking the end with the bags. We had run out of red bags so Nick took the snow mobile back to get two more while Robert and I finished filling bags. We finished the end marks, took some pictures and headed back about 16:30 calling it a successful day with almost 3km (or half the thickness array) surveyed and all but one line (and the little bit of Line #3) completed. We knew it was quitting time because between the 700m and 900m of Line #6 each of us had tripped walking backwards so we knew we were getting tired. We headed back, stored the auger in the generator hut, sorted out the sled and started to log things in for the day. We debriefed and chatted about strategy for the next day with Jackie, Jenny, and Bruce.
With three of us, we were able to get over it pretty well so we were able to actually take a few minutes to get a good look at the ice at the ridge including the block sizes and the snow. On the other side was a wide smooth spot with frost flowers surrounded with their own little sastrugi snow drift (10cm scale). We tried to reach the bottom of the ice with our 3 foot length auger but never got there. The ice chippings were damp but we never hit water which felt odd because usually frost flower grow on top of thin black ice formed by a new lead but this was early spring so the ice was at its maximum. We crossed the second ridge on the other side and realized that this must be a lead that opened but then there was shearing so ridges formed on either side of the lead. On the other side the terrain smoothed out again and we were at the 900m mark when our two German colleagues joined us to help. At the end we put the 1000m mark and two red bags to mark it as Line #2. We then headed back to the center pole to start Line #3. Within an hour we had that surveyed out to the 500m pole thanks to all the help and headed back for lunch. So basically we managed 1500m of survey in the time it took us to do 500m the day before. Weather and the amount help made a huge difference.At lunch (and the meals here by the way are just outstanding – see Robert’s journal), Jackie had mentioned that they saw lots of lead activity while in the helicopter, so our team should keep an eye out for any opening leads. It was like a premonition because we found one while preparing the 600 m mark. I had taken the snow mobile around to the right of the transect in search of a way to get around the ridge. I saw an opening but as I got closer I realized why. A lead had just opened up. It must have been because there was this crystal clear blue water about 1m wide in these 0F temperatures. With no wind, after three days of hard blowing, the ice started to move with all the momentum and stress it had built up. This was only my second day ever on a snow mobile so I decided to get the other two fellows on my team (Nick and Robert – the two German fellows had some duties back in Prudhoe to tend to their EM bird so they did not join us after lunch). As I drove the snow mobile back, I crossed another crack that was just starting to open (about 10 cm wide). I felt confident enough to cross that but I was wondering how far these things would open so I was glad to be on the camp side of this activity. I got Nick and Robert and we walked back to the two leads. When we reached the big one, we saw that it already had a few centimeters of ice (and hence my initial guess that I must have come across it just as it was forming). We radioed the location and they said thanks and we proceeded. I went around the ridge from the left and carefully kept an eye on the direction and activity of the lead. We surveyed up to 700m but the next mark was on the other side. We decided to call in again and this time I made the call and chatted with Jackie. She recommended (as Robert had also suggested) to stop the line there for today and head back tomorrow to check activity and assess at that point. Nick jumped across the lead and we put in the 725 flag and then we marked two additional flags on either side of the lead with measurements. The flags were placed at 715 and 717 m with a measure of 80cm opening. Tomorrow we’ll go back and measure that length again and look at the ice conditions. If they have stabilized, we will find a narrow spot to cross the lead and finish the line.
We called it in and told base camp we were returning to start up on the next line. We went back to get some more stakes and headed out to survey Line #6. It took about 2 hours to get that line done across the camp’s multi-year floe. The longest work was getting the 1000m pole and marking the end with the bags. We had run out of red bags so Nick took the snow mobile back to get two more while Robert and I finished filling bags. We finished the end marks, took some pictures and headed back about 16:30 calling it a successful day with almost 3km (or half the thickness array) surveyed and all but one line (and the little bit of Line #3) completed. We knew it was quitting time because between the 700m and 900m of Line #6 each of us had tripped walking backwards so we knew we were getting tired. We headed back, stored the auger in the generator hut, sorted out the sled and started to log things in for the day. We debriefed and chatted about strategy for the next day with Jackie, Jenny, and Bruce.
First real day of work - 1 April
Got up at 06:00 and tried to start a first real day of work. Jackie and Bruce had surveyed the first line of the thickness transects and I was put in charge with Robert of completing the survey. It was blowing hard that day with temperatures around -15F and steady winds of ~20mph (a sharp cold wind). Robert and I spent the first half of the morning working with Jackie to modify the sled gear based on what they had learned the day before. We had to pre-open garbage bags (our markers) in the warm hut so we didn’t have to deal with them in the cold and blowing wind. We loaded up stakes, drills, a stapler, shovel, extra clothes, survey tape, compass, and other gear into an Akio sled. Jackie and Bruce completed the north leg (Line #1) the day before (March 31) the hard way by hand dragging the sled the full 1 km, using a manual drill, and other difficult tasks. It took about 3 hours of really hard work with the manual drill, cold blowing winds, and in many cases very little snow on the ice. It was by far the hardest line to survey out.
Robert and I headed out about 10:00 and while we had a huge upgrade in gear thanks to Jackie and Bruce’s experience, we didn’t have the one key thing they did – experience. Robert and I set off to work on Line #4 which was in the opposite direction of where Jackie and Bruce had set out so we didn’t have to set the bearing, just work on the distance. We are pretty green horns at this stuff so with the cold blowing wind and little experience in handling all this new equipment the first 500 m was long and slow. We had to contend with strong winds that would blow the tape out of our hands and send the little whip-it (whippie) flags skidding across the hard packed snow and ice (sometimes crawling hands and knees to chase after them). We had to drill holes with a hand drill into the ice to get the whippie flags to sit still and then grab a shovel full of snow to make a little mound to hold them in place. We reached the 500m mark just before lunch and put in the first big pole with hi-fives at the completion. Robert’s jaw dropped when I told him the lines were each 1000m long (twice what we just did) at the realization that at this pace it could take all week to just set up the array. We decided it was time to take a break, head back to camp, get some lunch and rethink again.
After lunch, Jackie was able to join us for the second half of Line #4. In about an hour we had the whole thing surveyed at about twice the pace of the first half mostly because we had three people instead of two. Jackie and Robert held the tape measure at each end (25m length) while I followed along to deal with the flags, making the snow piles, and drilling the holes. The big lesson that Robert and I learned that day was how to break down the process into single repetitive tasks that could be handled in cold, windy conditions. When we finished that line, we headed back to the center pole (middle of the array) and spent the rest of the afternoon getting the bearing line and first 100m out for each of the remaining 4 lines. At about 17:00 we finished that and headed in to call it a day. Robert had to catch up on his journaling and I had to go through gear, store the auger in the generator hut to keep it warm overnight, and other duties. The evening was full of meetings and by 23:00 I realized that I had better get to bed as I had a very hard day ahead of me.
Robert and I headed out about 10:00 and while we had a huge upgrade in gear thanks to Jackie and Bruce’s experience, we didn’t have the one key thing they did – experience. Robert and I set off to work on Line #4 which was in the opposite direction of where Jackie and Bruce had set out so we didn’t have to set the bearing, just work on the distance. We are pretty green horns at this stuff so with the cold blowing wind and little experience in handling all this new equipment the first 500 m was long and slow. We had to contend with strong winds that would blow the tape out of our hands and send the little whip-it (whippie) flags skidding across the hard packed snow and ice (sometimes crawling hands and knees to chase after them). We had to drill holes with a hand drill into the ice to get the whippie flags to sit still and then grab a shovel full of snow to make a little mound to hold them in place. We reached the 500m mark just before lunch and put in the first big pole with hi-fives at the completion. Robert’s jaw dropped when I told him the lines were each 1000m long (twice what we just did) at the realization that at this pace it could take all week to just set up the array. We decided it was time to take a break, head back to camp, get some lunch and rethink again.
After lunch, Jackie was able to join us for the second half of Line #4. In about an hour we had the whole thing surveyed at about twice the pace of the first half mostly because we had three people instead of two. Jackie and Robert held the tape measure at each end (25m length) while I followed along to deal with the flags, making the snow piles, and drilling the holes. The big lesson that Robert and I learned that day was how to break down the process into single repetitive tasks that could be handled in cold, windy conditions. When we finished that line, we headed back to the center pole (middle of the array) and spent the rest of the afternoon getting the bearing line and first 100m out for each of the remaining 4 lines. At about 17:00 we finished that and headed in to call it a day. Robert had to catch up on his journaling and I had to go through gear, store the auger in the generator hut to keep it warm overnight, and other duties. The evening was full of meetings and by 23:00 I realized that I had better get to bed as I had a very hard day ahead of me.
Heading out - 31 March
We were up at 5am. We had to stop by at Mani’s to pick up the first round of images to bring to the camp. We had all our stuff packed and at the door, ate breakfast and were out the door by 6am. We arrived at Mani’s (Nordic House) at 6:15 and he was awake (a credit to his dedication and excitement about this project). We spent a half hour transferring data and then Robert and I headed off to rendezvous with Alice at 07:00 so that we could transfer the use of Jen’s car and house keys to Alice who would in turn transfer them to the house sitter.
We then went to the airport, did the loading up bit and proceeded on our way. When we arrived in Prudhoe, we were met at the luggage station by one of the APLIS logistics fellows. He hurried us over to the building next door and told us to get into our Arctic gear for the flight as per requirements. It was then that I mentioned that I was the one who called last night about the box that needed to remain in Prudhoe.
“Oh, you’re the one. Could you make that label any smaller?!” I relayed that I was not the one who packed the boxes and I was curious to see not only the label but the gear inside. Sure enough everything I needed was in that box and I was relieved. We got ready, got on the plane and headed out. I even got to ride in the co-pilot seat (a first for me). We had a very enjoyable flight. We had a clear view of the landfast ice, but the first year ice close to shore had been smashed around a bit by a recent storm so it was full of leads and buried in fog. A few miles out (~10 n.m.) the fog began to clear and we cold see all kinds of sea ice structure. We were flying at 3000 ft with a clear view of the surface. I took the opportunity to make a series of shots because this was a flight nearly due north from Prudhoe to the camp. Since I was sitting in the co-pilot seat, I was able to get a really good look at the navigation GPS right between the pilot and co-pilot. So after each shot (or sequence of shots) I took a followup shot of the GPS screen so I could catalogue that transect of pictures (see photos). I even took a short 30 second video with voice commentary so it will be interesting to see how that came out over the roar of the engine noise.
I asked the pilot to make a circle about the camp and took a bunch of pictures as he came in for the landing (see photos). We arrived and stepped off the plane to be greeted by 5 faceless or frozen-faced folks. One of them was Pat Mckueown (Jen’s husband, one of the divers and logistics guys). I had met him several times before but I could only recognize him because his name was written with a black marker on the left breast pocket of his insulated coveralls. His eyebrows were thick with ice and his cheeks were bright red. He had been here since March 1 setting up the camp and it was obvious that he had been doing a ton of work here the last 4 weeks.
We loaded up our gear onto the snow mobiles and walked toward the camp. I met up with Jackie and Bruce. We stood out in the cold for about 20 minutes exchanging messages and I got a crude briefing from them on where my hooch (hut) was located, when meals were served, and what they were up to. I also got a 30 second briefing on where the outhouses were and how to use them (as I really needed to after 6 hours of flying). I found my hut, picked a bunk, dumped my gear, changed into something more flexible than that Goodyear blimp parka outfit and proceeded to find my working gear, tool box, and other basic necessities. After a half hour of this I went into the command hut (location for all communications and the basic working hut) and proceeded to find out what the status of everything was. Robert came in about as disoriented as I did and about one hour after we landed I found him very comfortably sitting in the mess tent chatting with some of the key logistics guys about how the camp works. I can not tell you how nice it is to take a teacher into the field and have full confidence that he is not only a good teacher but also a very competent field person.
After chatting with the logistics guys myself (and getting more oriented through their insight), Robert and I headed over to the logistics hut where we set to work putting up his work station and getting his antenna mounted on the hut roof. It was a pretty smooth operation and we have the week and a half of training and practice to show for it. Within a couple of hours, we were able to make the first call and I got to be the lucky one to call my family. It was so good to hear Hans’ voice after all this travel. Years ago when I used to do field work, I would basically fall off the face of the earth for weeks at a time because ship-to-shore communications was strictly limited to critical messages. So this is a new experience for me to know that I can “ET phone home” anytime I really need to. The whole PolarTREC experience is very comforting in this regard.
I spent the rest of the day trying to get camp set up including arranging the rifles, emergency tents, and helping Jen to prep the GPS for the high resolution study. After dinner, I helped Robert out with the first journal transmission which went smooth as butter and we were just absolutely psyched because it was the first day of camp and all those hard 10 days of spin up were finally paying off. Robert had the biggest smile on his face when he was able to just push the button for each pre-composed message and watch happily as each message uplinked. Hi-fives all around.
I went back to my hut and spent a couple of hours finally getting the chance to unpack my personal gear and get settled into the hut before bed.
We then went to the airport, did the loading up bit and proceeded on our way. When we arrived in Prudhoe, we were met at the luggage station by one of the APLIS logistics fellows. He hurried us over to the building next door and told us to get into our Arctic gear for the flight as per requirements. It was then that I mentioned that I was the one who called last night about the box that needed to remain in Prudhoe.
“Oh, you’re the one. Could you make that label any smaller?!” I relayed that I was not the one who packed the boxes and I was curious to see not only the label but the gear inside. Sure enough everything I needed was in that box and I was relieved. We got ready, got on the plane and headed out. I even got to ride in the co-pilot seat (a first for me). We had a very enjoyable flight. We had a clear view of the landfast ice, but the first year ice close to shore had been smashed around a bit by a recent storm so it was full of leads and buried in fog. A few miles out (~10 n.m.) the fog began to clear and we cold see all kinds of sea ice structure. We were flying at 3000 ft with a clear view of the surface. I took the opportunity to make a series of shots because this was a flight nearly due north from Prudhoe to the camp. Since I was sitting in the co-pilot seat, I was able to get a really good look at the navigation GPS right between the pilot and co-pilot. So after each shot (or sequence of shots) I took a followup shot of the GPS screen so I could catalogue that transect of pictures (see photos). I even took a short 30 second video with voice commentary so it will be interesting to see how that came out over the roar of the engine noise.
I asked the pilot to make a circle about the camp and took a bunch of pictures as he came in for the landing (see photos). We arrived and stepped off the plane to be greeted by 5 faceless or frozen-faced folks. One of them was Pat Mckueown (Jen’s husband, one of the divers and logistics guys). I had met him several times before but I could only recognize him because his name was written with a black marker on the left breast pocket of his insulated coveralls. His eyebrows were thick with ice and his cheeks were bright red. He had been here since March 1 setting up the camp and it was obvious that he had been doing a ton of work here the last 4 weeks.
We loaded up our gear onto the snow mobiles and walked toward the camp. I met up with Jackie and Bruce. We stood out in the cold for about 20 minutes exchanging messages and I got a crude briefing from them on where my hooch (hut) was located, when meals were served, and what they were up to. I also got a 30 second briefing on where the outhouses were and how to use them (as I really needed to after 6 hours of flying). I found my hut, picked a bunk, dumped my gear, changed into something more flexible than that Goodyear blimp parka outfit and proceeded to find my working gear, tool box, and other basic necessities. After a half hour of this I went into the command hut (location for all communications and the basic working hut) and proceeded to find out what the status of everything was. Robert came in about as disoriented as I did and about one hour after we landed I found him very comfortably sitting in the mess tent chatting with some of the key logistics guys about how the camp works. I can not tell you how nice it is to take a teacher into the field and have full confidence that he is not only a good teacher but also a very competent field person.
After chatting with the logistics guys myself (and getting more oriented through their insight), Robert and I headed over to the logistics hut where we set to work putting up his work station and getting his antenna mounted on the hut roof. It was a pretty smooth operation and we have the week and a half of training and practice to show for it. Within a couple of hours, we were able to make the first call and I got to be the lucky one to call my family. It was so good to hear Hans’ voice after all this travel. Years ago when I used to do field work, I would basically fall off the face of the earth for weeks at a time because ship-to-shore communications was strictly limited to critical messages. So this is a new experience for me to know that I can “ET phone home” anytime I really need to. The whole PolarTREC experience is very comforting in this regard.
I spent the rest of the day trying to get camp set up including arranging the rifles, emergency tents, and helping Jen to prep the GPS for the high resolution study. After dinner, I helped Robert out with the first journal transmission which went smooth as butter and we were just absolutely psyched because it was the first day of camp and all those hard 10 days of spin up were finally paying off. Robert had the biggest smile on his face when he was able to just push the button for each pre-composed message and watch happily as each message uplinked. Hi-fives all around.
I went back to my hut and spent a couple of hours finally getting the chance to unpack my personal gear and get settled into the hut before bed.
31 March 2007
Last day before heading out - 30 March
Things are basically set to go. I have a few minutes to sit and gather my thoughts. We’ve been in a flurry with last minute activities from all those things that go “bump” just as events start to spin up. Robert has managed to get his glasses repaired. The telecommunications system which never materialized has been modified into a courier service with aircraft delivery of one precious DVD per day with all the relevant communication uplinks to be attached.
One of the scientists from the submarine incident is staying at Jen’s house and recounting the tales to us while the other is en route from home in the UK after getting a couple of days with his family. Mani’s housing is all squared away at the Nordic House and IARC has set him up in creature comfort style so that he can just come and go everyday to work in Jen’s office with all the computer systems up, running, and working away smoothly. The intended buoy array is up and running in its intended configuration (oh, such a lovely sight – see image or complete website). The field scientists are all on their way from all their homes, slowly making their way to the camp. The months of work to write the proposal and the months of work to prepare for this mission are now coming down to this one day before we depart to start on a seemingly short expedition of only 2 weeks. Years of training, months of negotiating, and numerous outstanding and positive people have worked very, very hard to make this all happen. We are at that point where it is the night before the launch of a space craft only this time I’m the one who’s going as one of the cryonauts. All the many months of preparation focused on this time of only two weeks to collect an enormous amount of field data. It will go by.... so.... very.... fast....
Late night: Thought I would just take it easy, pack the last of my things, look out for aurora, and head to bed early. Got a call from the ice camp from Bruce Elder who told me that he and Jackie were at the ice camp. They were told that everything was already flown out to the camp but when they arrived, nothing they needed was there. So I got the call. “Don’t leave Prudhoe until our 6 boxes arrive” he said. One of the boxes has all my camp gear like the parka, bunny boots, sleeping bag and emergency stuff I would need (and require) before boarding the plane. I was also told to pick up a few things that they didn’t have time to get like anti-freeze, a lighter and some tooth paste for Pablo.
I was told to pack a bag with extra gear. After spending 30 frustrating minutes trying to locate gear at someone else’s house, I remembered that I had the phone number to the Prudhoe station, so I called them. Turns out the missing boxes had arrived and all the boxes would be heading out on the first flight that morning to the ice camp.
One of the scientists from the submarine incident is staying at Jen’s house and recounting the tales to us while the other is en route from home in the UK after getting a couple of days with his family. Mani’s housing is all squared away at the Nordic House and IARC has set him up in creature comfort style so that he can just come and go everyday to work in Jen’s office with all the computer systems up, running, and working away smoothly. The intended buoy array is up and running in its intended configuration (oh, such a lovely sight – see image or complete website). The field scientists are all on their way from all their homes, slowly making their way to the camp. The months of work to write the proposal and the months of work to prepare for this mission are now coming down to this one day before we depart to start on a seemingly short expedition of only 2 weeks. Years of training, months of negotiating, and numerous outstanding and positive people have worked very, very hard to make this all happen. We are at that point where it is the night before the launch of a space craft only this time I’m the one who’s going as one of the cryonauts. All the many months of preparation focused on this time of only two weeks to collect an enormous amount of field data. It will go by.... so.... very.... fast....Late night: Thought I would just take it easy, pack the last of my things, look out for aurora, and head to bed early. Got a call from the ice camp from Bruce Elder who told me that he and Jackie were at the ice camp. They were told that everything was already flown out to the camp but when they arrived, nothing they needed was there. So I got the call. “Don’t leave Prudhoe until our 6 boxes arrive” he said. One of the boxes has all my camp gear like the parka, bunny boots, sleeping bag and emergency stuff I would need (and require) before boarding the plane. I was also told to pick up a few things that they didn’t have time to get like anti-freeze, a lighter and some tooth paste for Pablo.
I was told to pack a bag with extra gear. After spending 30 frustrating minutes trying to locate gear at someone else’s house, I remembered that I had the phone number to the Prudhoe station, so I called them. Turns out the missing boxes had arrived and all the boxes would be heading out on the first flight that morning to the ice camp.
30 March 2007
Return to Fairbanks to Run Around - 29 March
We came back to Fairbanks, picked up the car that Jen had left in the Airport parking lot only an hour earlier as she had just flown out to head to the camp early as the chief scientist. We spent the morning at ARCUS sorting through the diagnostics of the failed communications during the dry run journal transmissions while in Fort Yukon. After lunch, I spent the rest of the day catching up on communications with Mani and getting back into full logistics mode. The time of camp departure was upon us and there were a few thousand details yet undone.
Fort Yukon - Full Day Visit 28 March
Walking to School
I walked to school on Wednesday. Brenda didn’t have a car as such things are quite expensive (more on that later). It was only a mile and I used to walk that distance every day twice a day back and forth from the University of Delaware. The biggest differences were the temperature (-25F), the road conditions (hard packed with snow spread with small traction stones), the bike paths (replaced by snow mobile trails), and I had 4 layers of clothes on. I had my laptop with my talk in my back pack and my camera in hand.
I took pictures of the everyday things I saw on my walk to school; things one would normally see in a small rural village in Vermont: neighbors homes (see photos), the approach to main street (photo left), the post office, the radio station, the church, the state office, the country store (photos here and here), 
and the school (photo right). They were different in some ways, but in many ways there were so familiar to the things I’d see in my little town of West Hartford, Vermont. The more I walked around and talked with folks, the more I began to see a commonality between life in a rural Vermont town and that in an Alaskan village. Places like this don’t look pretty in the post card sense. The land is hard and structures are built to be practical, not pretty. My village has trailer homes with piles of junk cars in front so I was trying to see past the superficial.
The People
Just like in Vermont, folks are suspicious of outsiders. They have their communities, their traditions, their culture, and they like their privacy. They keep hush-hush on stuff that folks aren’t supposed to talk about. But most importantly, they are some of warmest loving souls you’ll ever meet. If you get to sit down and just talk with them about their lives, you’ll appreciate the emphasis they place on the important things in life. Brenda has spent several years in this village. I saw how the locals interacted with her. I could see that she really had earned a considerable amount of trust because of her open and honest form of communication and her love for the students – her tough love as she calls it. These universal impressions left a very warm feeling in me.
The Talks
As part of our outreach Robert and I each gave a one hour talk. I spoke about the SEDNA project and our efforts to understand the changes going on in the Arctic especially that the sea ice is thinner now and there are issues to consider that never had to be considered before - issues like the fact that less ice means more waves and more damage from storms. I also talked to these high-energy students about the fact that these changes will happen as they become adults and through their life time. I asked them to try to think of ways that they could make a difference and asked them to think of ways of channeling all that energy (and frustration) they have into solving one problem in a way that would make life in their village a better place to be.
Robert gave his talk about life in Vermont. He talked about all the things that were similar (hunting, fishing, snow mobiles, lots of trees, sports) and things that were different (maple sugaring). He tried to give them a flavor of what life is like in Vermont and how in many ways the rural lifestyle has a commonality that can be shared between Vermont and Alaska especially in the more rural locations.
Brenda said we did a good job. We had kept their attention for one hour each and she said that was a good measure of how well the talk was received.
Buying Goods
While Brenda was wrapping up her teaching after our talks, I went to the town store to get some supplies for her as she was limited in mobility with her broken leg. The store looked like a typical country store in Vermont and I had to keep reminding myself that I was not in Vermont. National public radio was on the PA system with highlights of the news. The shelves were stocked with a little bit of everything and they even had the 48” long fluorescent light bulbs that Brenda needed for her living room. It reminded me of the saying at Dan & Whit’s in Norwich, VT: “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it!” They had all the latest in technology including the computer screens and credit/debit card systems. The cost of things was the only thing that let me know this wasn’t Vermont. A bag of Doritos costs close to $7 because everything this time of the year comes in by airplane. Gasoline for snow mobiles and cars costs ~$4 a gallon and heating oil was in the same price range. These prices more than anything revealed the remoteness of the village.
Tribal Meeting Event
See Robert’s entry on the PolarTREC website for this incredible event.
I walked to school on Wednesday. Brenda didn’t have a car as such things are quite expensive (more on that later). It was only a mile and I used to walk that distance every day twice a day back and forth from the University of Delaware. The biggest differences were the temperature (-25F), the road conditions (hard packed with snow spread with small traction stones), the bike paths (replaced by snow mobile trails), and I had 4 layers of clothes on. I had my laptop with my talk in my back pack and my camera in hand.
I took pictures of the everyday things I saw on my walk to school; things one would normally see in a small rural village in Vermont: neighbors homes (see photos), the approach to main street (photo left), the post office, the radio station, the church, the state office, the country store (photos here and here), and the school (photo right). They were different in some ways, but in many ways there were so familiar to the things I’d see in my little town of West Hartford, Vermont. The more I walked around and talked with folks, the more I began to see a commonality between life in a rural Vermont town and that in an Alaskan village. Places like this don’t look pretty in the post card sense. The land is hard and structures are built to be practical, not pretty. My village has trailer homes with piles of junk cars in front so I was trying to see past the superficial. The People
Just like in Vermont, folks are suspicious of outsiders. They have their communities, their traditions, their culture, and they like their privacy. They keep hush-hush on stuff that folks aren’t supposed to talk about. But most importantly, they are some of warmest loving souls you’ll ever meet. If you get to sit down and just talk with them about their lives, you’ll appreciate the emphasis they place on the important things in life. Brenda has spent several years in this village. I saw how the locals interacted with her. I could see that she really had earned a considerable amount of trust because of her open and honest form of communication and her love for the students – her tough love as she calls it. These universal impressions left a very warm feeling in me.
The Talks
As part of our outreach Robert and I each gave a one hour talk. I spoke about the SEDNA project and our efforts to understand the changes going on in the Arctic especially that the sea ice is thinner now and there are issues to consider that never had to be considered before - issues like the fact that less ice means more waves and more damage from storms. I also talked to these high-energy students about the fact that these changes will happen as they become adults and through their life time. I asked them to try to think of ways that they could make a difference and asked them to think of ways of channeling all that energy (and frustration) they have into solving one problem in a way that would make life in their village a better place to be.
Robert gave his talk about life in Vermont. He talked about all the things that were similar (hunting, fishing, snow mobiles, lots of trees, sports) and things that were different (maple sugaring). He tried to give them a flavor of what life is like in Vermont and how in many ways the rural lifestyle has a commonality that can be shared between Vermont and Alaska especially in the more rural locations.
Brenda said we did a good job. We had kept their attention for one hour each and she said that was a good measure of how well the talk was received.
Buying Goods
While Brenda was wrapping up her teaching after our talks, I went to the town store to get some supplies for her as she was limited in mobility with her broken leg. The store looked like a typical country store in Vermont and I had to keep reminding myself that I was not in Vermont. National public radio was on the PA system with highlights of the news. The shelves were stocked with a little bit of everything and they even had the 48” long fluorescent light bulbs that Brenda needed for her living room. It reminded me of the saying at Dan & Whit’s in Norwich, VT: “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it!” They had all the latest in technology including the computer screens and credit/debit card systems. The cost of things was the only thing that let me know this wasn’t Vermont. A bag of Doritos costs close to $7 because everything this time of the year comes in by airplane. Gasoline for snow mobiles and cars costs ~$4 a gallon and heating oil was in the same price range. These prices more than anything revealed the remoteness of the village.
Tribal Meeting Event
See Robert’s entry on the PolarTREC website for this incredible event.
Fort Yukon Visit - 27 March
Fort Yukon: originally a trading fort along the Yukon River (google Fort Yukon). Population is a mix of folks with the dominant population being the indigenous inhabitants of the Gwich’in Athabascan tribe.
The Flight
We went to the airport with bags in hand – half full with gifts for the visit (4 quarts of fresh maple syrup boiled the weekend before we left home by Jackie’s husband who owns a sugar maple farm, bottle of wine, 8 T-shirts with the logo that Brenda had helped design – her painting of SEDNA is in the logo). Jen told us the night before that it would be an interesting flight. Frontier Flying Service takes us up there on a small propeller plane that holds about a dozen passengers with the back third of the plane full of luggage for us and supplies for the village. The flight is only a half hour long but there are no roads to connect the village to anything else so everything has to come in by either aircraft or a couple of barges in the summer. Heading to the aircraft was interesting. Unlike most commercial flights, there was no security check in and in fact we were encouraged to wear any type of survival gear that we might have so I strapped my leatherman kit with flashlight to my belt buckle and put my mini med kit around my neck. Boarding the plane was like getting into a long narrow van. There was one seat on either side of an aisle. The pilot (who was also the steward) gave us our safety instructions by kneeling at the entry door (see photo) and telling us that we should locate the oxygen mask hatch by our elbow and how to use the exit over the wing. Despite many years of flying on commercial aircraft, I made it a particular point to listen very carefully to his instructions.
The Arrival
The flight was pretty uneventful but the arrival met us with that start of yet another adventure. We had received e-mail communication from Brenda (our host teacher) that she had slipped and fallen the week before and broken her leg. She insisted we come to visit anyhow and I thought it would probably be a good idea as we could help her out with basic needs given her state. The initial plan was that she would meet us at the airport with a friend to give us a lift. When we arrived, two groups got off the plane into vehicles standing by right on the runway with engines on keeping folks warm. We got off, they left, and we were standing there. The airport terminal was quite small (a one story shelter about the size of a modest cabin). It was a heated shelter and the temperatures were below zero so we thought that would be a good place to think about what to do next.
For the next 30 minutes we went through several levels of “what do we do next”. The fellow working at the airport said that Brenda had broken her leg and had gone to Fairbanks to get some more x-rays. After Robert and I got over the jaw drop from that information we started to think from first principles. Who are we coming to see?.... Brenda. Why are we visiting? ... For PolarTREC outreach. Where does she work? ..... The school. ... The SCHOOL! I looked around and saw a pay phone (thank goodness they still have such things). Next to it was a small pile of phone books. We located the one that said local directory of Fort Yukon. We found the number to the school and I dialed the pay phone. A funny answering machine came on so I left a message. Then I tried to call Brenda just in case. The same funny answering machine came on. I hadn’t been in touch with Brenda for a couple of days. We asked if we could use the office phone line to make an 800 dial-up computer call to check e-mail for messages. The link was too unstable but the attendant told us to make the phone call on his phone as the pay phone was acting funny lately. – Confusion in my brain -
After a few phone calls we slowly sorted out the reality of the situation. Brenda was actually still in Fort Yukon at the school (not Fairbanks). Through a few message relays she finally reached us (called us on that misbehaving pay phone) and told us the school was about a half mile down the road. A fellow was just coming in to pick up some supplies and offered a ride in his truck to the school. Things slowly returned to normal and we got back on course, shaky as the start had been.
The School
Except for the fact that the school was standing on stilts to keep it above the permafrost, it looked like a school you would see just about anywhere in the rural US. It was small but clean and tidy with a principal’s office and a note for guests to sign in upon arrival. The entry hall had the US and State flags prominently standing in close proximity to the glass case with all the sports trophies. It was a K-12 school with the little grades down one wing, middle school down another, and high school down a third. The principal told us to walk down to Brenda’s class and we headed right into an algebra class in session. After the huge hello and inspection and cast signing of her broken leg she set us to work one-on-one with the kids doing their math exercises. We did that for the remaining 3 classes that day.
School was only half days this week because it was spring carnival with dog races, snow shoe races, and the carnival queen and princess competitions. So after dropping off our gear at Brenda’s house we caught a ride down to the snow shoe and three legged races. There was a fresh shoulder of moose meat on the wood fired grill. Except for the details of the type of meat and the fact that it was way below zero, it felt like your typical small rural village event like the kind we often hold in Vermont in the summer. The people were a very close-knit group and everyone looked out for everyone’s needs. The kids were goofing off and the parents were catching up on the latest events in town. The similarities in behavior and customs to those in rural Vermont were more striking to me than the differences I was seeing.
Brenda’s Cabin
When we returned to Brenda’s very cozy cabin (see photos), we just took it easy. She had a broken leg and a friend had given her a 5-wheel office chair for her to take the weight off her leg. She was getting around great and in good spirits about our visit. The cabin was small but had all the creature comforts including indoor plumbing, an oil and wood furnace in the living room, a shower and toilet, and a nicely laid out kitchen.
Robert and I used this time to prepare our talks for the next day and to test journal uplink capabilities. It was quite something to call home from a satellite phone! We hit a number of glitches with the uplink which were frustrating. I told Robert to write down everything that is going wrong and then we’ll chalk this up to a pre-field dry run. In the meantime, we had a great visit with lots of good food (fresh moose stew with rice, smoked salmon with potato and bacon chowder, etc) and wonderful company.
Meeting with the First Elder
When we last communicated with Brenda (Friday 23 March), we asked her about meeting with the village elders. That evening, she invited one of the elders (Nancy) that she knew quite well to her house. We talked for hours about global climate change and what impact it was having in this area. Nancy spoke mostly of the big changes. She spoke of the warm fall, the colder deep winter, and rapid warming spring (just like we had in Vermont this year). She spoke of the change in the taste of the salmon because they are coming up rivers that are changing. The salmon are eating different things now and that changes the way they taste. We talked about our upcoming experiment, where we would be going, what we would be doing, who we would be working with. Since we were visiting Fort Yukon for the sake of education outreach and to help out Brenda with a broken leg, it made the whole situation feel very comfortable. We had no agenda to engage in any type of research in this area, we were there to talk, listen, share, and compare our lives in Vermont with the lives of these folks in rural Alaska. The elders of the village were mostly women. Brenda was born and raised in the pan handle of Florida and I spent my formative high school years in Upstate New York in a rural farm community. We were like a cackling bunch of hens with Robert chiming in talking how things are here and there. We even got into the classic conversation that older folks do about how kids these days ......
The following evening Nancy invited Robert and me to join her for one hour in the home of a second elder (Hannah). Their friend and fellow elder Annie was also there. They shared dried moose meat, smoked salmon, and wonderful stories. It was like the visits I used to make years ago with my family during the holidays when we used to go from one relative’s home to the other. Stopping by for some food and chatting with others to see how their lives were coming along. It was a special event and Robert and I feel honored to have been asked to meet with them.
The Flight
We went to the airport with bags in hand – half full with gifts for the visit (4 quarts of fresh maple syrup boiled the weekend before we left home by Jackie’s husband who owns a sugar maple farm, bottle of wine, 8 T-shirts with the logo that Brenda had helped design – her painting of SEDNA is in the logo). Jen told us the night before that it would be an interesting flight. Frontier Flying Service takes us up there on a small propeller plane that holds about a dozen passengers with the back third of the plane full of luggage for us and supplies for the village. The flight is only a half hour long but there are no roads to connect the village to anything else so everything has to come in by either aircraft or a couple of barges in the summer. Heading to the aircraft was interesting. Unlike most commercial flights, there was no security check in and in fact we were encouraged to wear any type of survival gear that we might have so I strapped my leatherman kit with flashlight to my belt buckle and put my mini med kit around my neck. Boarding the plane was like getting into a long narrow van. There was one seat on either side of an aisle. The pilot (who was also the steward) gave us our safety instructions by kneeling at the entry door (see photo) and telling us that we should locate the oxygen mask hatch by our elbow and how to use the exit over the wing. Despite many years of flying on commercial aircraft, I made it a particular point to listen very carefully to his instructions.
The Arrival
The flight was pretty uneventful but the arrival met us with that start of yet another adventure. We had received e-mail communication from Brenda (our host teacher) that she had slipped and fallen the week before and broken her leg. She insisted we come to visit anyhow and I thought it would probably be a good idea as we could help her out with basic needs given her state. The initial plan was that she would meet us at the airport with a friend to give us a lift. When we arrived, two groups got off the plane into vehicles standing by right on the runway with engines on keeping folks warm. We got off, they left, and we were standing there. The airport terminal was quite small (a one story shelter about the size of a modest cabin). It was a heated shelter and the temperatures were below zero so we thought that would be a good place to think about what to do next.
For the next 30 minutes we went through several levels of “what do we do next”. The fellow working at the airport said that Brenda had broken her leg and had gone to Fairbanks to get some more x-rays. After Robert and I got over the jaw drop from that information we started to think from first principles. Who are we coming to see?.... Brenda. Why are we visiting? ... For PolarTREC outreach. Where does she work? ..... The school. ... The SCHOOL! I looked around and saw a pay phone (thank goodness they still have such things). Next to it was a small pile of phone books. We located the one that said local directory of Fort Yukon. We found the number to the school and I dialed the pay phone. A funny answering machine came on so I left a message. Then I tried to call Brenda just in case. The same funny answering machine came on. I hadn’t been in touch with Brenda for a couple of days. We asked if we could use the office phone line to make an 800 dial-up computer call to check e-mail for messages. The link was too unstable but the attendant told us to make the phone call on his phone as the pay phone was acting funny lately. – Confusion in my brain -
After a few phone calls we slowly sorted out the reality of the situation. Brenda was actually still in Fort Yukon at the school (not Fairbanks). Through a few message relays she finally reached us (called us on that misbehaving pay phone) and told us the school was about a half mile down the road. A fellow was just coming in to pick up some supplies and offered a ride in his truck to the school. Things slowly returned to normal and we got back on course, shaky as the start had been.
The School
Except for the fact that the school was standing on stilts to keep it above the permafrost, it looked like a school you would see just about anywhere in the rural US. It was small but clean and tidy with a principal’s office and a note for guests to sign in upon arrival. The entry hall had the US and State flags prominently standing in close proximity to the glass case with all the sports trophies. It was a K-12 school with the little grades down one wing, middle school down another, and high school down a third. The principal told us to walk down to Brenda’s class and we headed right into an algebra class in session. After the huge hello and inspection and cast signing of her broken leg she set us to work one-on-one with the kids doing their math exercises. We did that for the remaining 3 classes that day.
School was only half days this week because it was spring carnival with dog races, snow shoe races, and the carnival queen and princess competitions. So after dropping off our gear at Brenda’s house we caught a ride down to the snow shoe and three legged races. There was a fresh shoulder of moose meat on the wood fired grill. Except for the details of the type of meat and the fact that it was way below zero, it felt like your typical small rural village event like the kind we often hold in Vermont in the summer. The people were a very close-knit group and everyone looked out for everyone’s needs. The kids were goofing off and the parents were catching up on the latest events in town. The similarities in behavior and customs to those in rural Vermont were more striking to me than the differences I was seeing.
Brenda’s Cabin
When we returned to Brenda’s very cozy cabin (see photos), we just took it easy. She had a broken leg and a friend had given her a 5-wheel office chair for her to take the weight off her leg. She was getting around great and in good spirits about our visit. The cabin was small but had all the creature comforts including indoor plumbing, an oil and wood furnace in the living room, a shower and toilet, and a nicely laid out kitchen.
Robert and I used this time to prepare our talks for the next day and to test journal uplink capabilities. It was quite something to call home from a satellite phone! We hit a number of glitches with the uplink which were frustrating. I told Robert to write down everything that is going wrong and then we’ll chalk this up to a pre-field dry run. In the meantime, we had a great visit with lots of good food (fresh moose stew with rice, smoked salmon with potato and bacon chowder, etc) and wonderful company. Meeting with the First Elder
When we last communicated with Brenda (Friday 23 March), we asked her about meeting with the village elders. That evening, she invited one of the elders (Nancy) that she knew quite well to her house. We talked for hours about global climate change and what impact it was having in this area. Nancy spoke mostly of the big changes. She spoke of the warm fall, the colder deep winter, and rapid warming spring (just like we had in Vermont this year). She spoke of the change in the taste of the salmon because they are coming up rivers that are changing. The salmon are eating different things now and that changes the way they taste. We talked about our upcoming experiment, where we would be going, what we would be doing, who we would be working with. Since we were visiting Fort Yukon for the sake of education outreach and to help out Brenda with a broken leg, it made the whole situation feel very comfortable. We had no agenda to engage in any type of research in this area, we were there to talk, listen, share, and compare our lives in Vermont with the lives of these folks in rural Alaska. The elders of the village were mostly women. Brenda was born and raised in the pan handle of Florida and I spent my formative high school years in Upstate New York in a rural farm community. We were like a cackling bunch of hens with Robert chiming in talking how things are here and there. We even got into the classic conversation that older folks do about how kids these days ......
The following evening Nancy invited Robert and me to join her for one hour in the home of a second elder (Hannah). Their friend and fellow elder Annie was also there. They shared dried moose meat, smoked salmon, and wonderful stories. It was like the visits I used to make years ago with my family during the holidays when we used to go from one relative’s home to the other. Stopping by for some food and chatting with others to see how their lives were coming along. It was a special event and Robert and I feel honored to have been asked to meet with them.
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