Sun., July 13: Home is where the Heart is...

The bike crew! (L to R: Jocque, me, Jeff, Tara, Craig, Max (not shown)

Me at the Ice Edge!

Cool house on a lake...

Me doing the "Sound of Music" with the Ice Edge in the background! You know...I am quite the dancer!

Tara and Jeff walking their bikes up the "sand trap hill"


Sorry, corny title, but I just had to do it!

"Home is where the heart is"...and where this blog ends...:(

I arrived in Houston last night (Saturday the 12th) around 11pm. Rob surprised me with a new lab puppy, and I just love him to death!

The last of the scientists left Summit on Thursday morning and arrived in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland that afternoon. I had an unbelieveable shower (as did most others) and we all met to go do some souvenir shopping before dinner at the cantina. I got a few postcards for my scrapbook, a shot glass, and some Danish liquor (everything was pretty expensive because the American dollar has been on the decline). On our way to Summit, our crew ate at the cafeteria in the commercial airport (has like three flights a day) because the cantina closes at 6:30pm and the cafeteria open much later. Some of the others had been there and said the food is horrible. We were all VERY hungry and luckily the food was alright that night (some type of fish, vegetable medley, rice, salad, rolls). We all got a beer at the airport bar afterward because it was happy hour, which means 30 kroner instead of 35 kroner for a beer (that's about 8 bucks for a bottled beer = booo). We were going to go on a hike, but it was drizzling and decided to call it a night.

I started a new book, "The Red Tent" (another Liz recommendation), and fell asleep by about 9:30pm (the earliest I've gone to bed in a long long time).

Six of us (me, Jocque (Univ. of Colorado), Craig (Montana), Tara (Univ. of Toronto), Jeff (Univ. of New Hampshire), and Max (UCLA)) decided that Friday would be devoted to biking the 35 mile roundtrip to the Ice Edge (where the glacier begins). This "bike ride" is not a walk in the park either. I'm talking loose gravel, deep sand, traveling through hills and in between mountains on a path with potholes on bikes with no shocks and some not allowing low gears. The KISS (Kanger International Science Support) facility where we were staying has mountain bikes that the scientists and staff can use...but let's just say the bikes had seen better days! We had all types of bikers...someone who regularly rides trails in Utah and Colorado to someone who had not been on a bike since prepubescent years. In retrospect, I think this made it more fun because each person needed the next to help him make it through the EIGHT hour trip. From the experienced Jocque surprising everyone along the way with "quick fixes" such as Wild Berry Skittles to Ghirardelli chocolate, to Jeff having a horrible fall after flipping his bike on a steep hill with potholes, to Max pushing himself to the limits...we saw it all. Now, as I am thinking about the experience, it is so amazing that the six of us made such great memories and had the times of our lives...and none of us had met just three weeks ago! I am so glad everyone decided to make the trip to the Ice Edge because it is something I will never forget.

We celebrated the end of the trip with a beer from the local grocery store. We went to the cantina afterward and the food was amazing! And it wasn't "amazing" just because we had drained all of our energy during the 8 hour ride...the "non-riders" said so too! The menu included musk ox roast with gravy, boiled potatoes, peas, rolls, and strawberries. It was delicious! The whole time I thought it was beef, but Bonnie (GA Tech) brought the whole musk ox thing to my attention at the end of the meal! You should try it!

That night we had a foosball tournament at the local pub that I organized. Craig (Montana) and Adam (NOAA) won the 2008 Kanger Foosball Tournament. Tara and I lost in the semifinals in a well-played match. I presented the winners with 10 kroner, which basically can't even by you a beer, but hey, I forgot about the award and had to pull it out of my pocket!

After hanging out a little while longer and then playing some darts, everyone headed off to bed. We had to leave KISS at 5am sharp because our plane left the Air Force Base at 6am on the nose. The flight from Kanger to Stratton Air Force Base in Schnectady, NY was 6 hours long, but seemed a lot shorter than last time because everyone was wiped out and pretty much slept the first 2 hours or longer.

It was difficult telling everyone goodbye because we had spent the last two and a half weeks together...sharing every meal and working side-by-side. I am very glad and thankful that I had the opportunity to be a part of the Summit field campaign. Besides Nemo getting a tear and the winch breaking three days before we left, our instruments ran pretty smoothly. It was great getting field experience, and the other scientists and staff made the "camp conditions" bearable.

Things I am missing:
1. new friends I met at Summit
2. playing cards
3. oven fresh cookies

Things I am not missing:
1. not throwing toilet paper in toilet
2. cold, windy weather (I am definitely a warm weather gal)
3. not being able to shower
4. sharing facilities with 30 other people

How I grew:
1. invaluable field experience
2. learned new card games
3. didn't need shower shoes when I got back to KISS...all that living with others and not showering made me not care (Mom and Liz I bet won't believe me!)

The rest of the summer and most of the fall, I will be spent analyzing the data. Hopefully in times of frustration while preparing for my dissertation proposal, I will be able to relax and think of some of the great times I had at Summit. We'll see! ;)

Smell-oh-Meter: 1...Zestfully Clean!

Thanks to everyone for sharing my experiences. I really loved reading the blog comments and hopefully everyone else will share their experiences using a blog too! Let me know if you need help setting it up!

Take Care!

**********SPECIAL UPDATE**********

AT APPROXIMATELY 2:45 LT (+3 HRS CENTRAL TIME) I TOOK A HOT SHOWER AND SHAVED AT THE KISS FACILITY IN KANGER, GREENLAND.

I feel like parading around the halls singing..."MAN, I FEEL LIKE A WOMAN!!!" Name that artist!

We are off for a two to three hour hike before dinner at the kantine! Woooooop wooooop!!!

Pics!

For you grandma Jane!

All the way from Greenland!

2008 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!

"Two borgs are better than one!" (Tuborg Beer from Denmark)

Craig looking down on me, Katrine, and Steve from the 45-meter tower.

Wed., July 9: LAST DAY LAST DAY!!!

It's been fun, but everything must come to an end. Everyone has been SUPER busy because we had to take down all of the equipment and transport it to the balloon shed, via bad boy buggy or electric snow mobile, which is hard to coordinate because the battery charge on both is an issue.


We had a NASA DC-8 and DLR German Falcon flyover today around 11:20am LT. They take all sorts of measurements including: chemical ionization mass spectrometer (BrO is the important one!), mercury instrument, meteorological variables, gas samples, and gas mist chambers. We will compare our measurements to the flight measurements.


This morning was really really hectic and it pretty much wore me out for the rest of the day. Craig and I were planning on doing a tethersonde launch at 9am. We filled up Nemo and had everything ready at Satellite Camp around 8:45am LT. Then we realized the Vaisala (tethersonde maker) laptop was not at Satellite Camp. I literally ran around Summit Camp for two hours looking everywhere for it, including: Univ. of New Hampshires boxes they had already packed, the Big House, Green House, and finally found it in the balloon shed in NOAA's boxes. It had accidentally been packed because I had borrowed a guy's laptop satchel who had left when I got here and Dave, his colleague, packed it up thinking it was his. I found it after many trips also back to Satellite Camp. The bad boy buggy and electric snowmobile were not charged so let's just say I was dying! So I finally get back to Satellite Camp with the laptop and then we realize the power cord was missing! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! I literally was about to explode! So so so so so so MAD! After a few moments of wanting to kick myself, I collected myself and walked the oh so familiar path back to the balloon shed. Booooo I thought.


Back at the balloon shed, I began looking in more boxes for the cord. See, this is an old Dell laptop (we only use it for the tethersonde software) and has an odd cord. I finally found it in one of Dave's boxes, which had a billion cables/cords.

So Nemo was launched at about 10:30am and was down by 11am. Just in time for the aircraft to fly over Summit. Whewwww! That was close! We also launched him for ONE LAST TIME (such sweet sweet sorrow!) right after the aircraft left. I'm not going to lie...for the most part I am not sad at all for not having to stand outside in the freezing cold with the wind whipping by and freezing my nose off (yes, I have looked like Rudolph since about the second day). But for the times when the snow looked like a sea full of diamonds and met the crystal blue skies, and I am all by myself looking out for miles...those are the times I will miss.

Everybody worked together and got everything cleaned out of Satellite Camp. Afterwards, the staff said they would handle palletizing (stacking up the boxes onto pallets to load onto the DC-8 tomorrow), and we could just relax. They didn't have to tell me twice!

I decided to ask people sitting around me to give me a quote about their favorite or least favorite part of Summit, best or west memory, advice to future Summitiers, or just what they are thinking at the moment. Here goes...

* Tara (Univ. of Toronoto): "I'm going to miss the horizon because in Toronto you cannot see the horizon because of all of the buildings. And I'll miss breathing without worrying about what exhaust I'm smelling. What I'm looking forward to...showering, flushing toilet paper, not having to stay up late because you're scared to go into your cold tent and finally not waking up to snow next to you on the floor!"
* Max (UCLA): "I'm going to miss waking up, taking 15 mins. to put my clothes on and the Scrabble and Youker games. Summit camp is like college...you live with your friends."
* Jocque (Univ. of Colorado): "Advice to future to Summitiers...just don't try to run in the snow after the first day because you get major chest pains!"
* Katrine (UC-Irvine): "I'm going to miss the sunlight."
* Richard (Michigan Tech): "I prefer the outhouse...where you can drop the toilet paper right down! The summer skiing is great too!"
* Jeff (Univ. of New Hampshire): "I didn't lose any fingers to frostbite!"
* Bonnie (GA Tech): "It's the coolest place on Earth!" (she says that is Greenland's moto). "I'm happy to be going home...that's it." (she's been here for six weeks)
* Craig (Montana): "Ice, Ice, baby!"
* Neil (British Antarctic Survey): "My feet are still frozen!"
* Louisa (Michigan Tech): "I love it so much I'm going to stay here for another three weeks!" (I'm guessing she's being sarcastic because she's already been here for six weeks!)

We are leaving tomorrow morning for Kanger, Greenland. We will stay there until Saturday morning and then head back to Stratton Air Force Base in New York.

Smell-oh-Meter:...3...no fresh hair and I sweated a lot running around Camp to get Nemo's laptop...that DARN FISH!!!

We had really good ribs for dinner with baked beans, potato wedges, salad, and enchiladas. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!

Current Weather:
-14F...brrrrrrrr

Mon., July 7: We WILL Prevail!!!

So what if the winch cannot be fixed here at Summit? We are going to manually crank that winch tomorrow during the DC-8 fly over, and we will succeed! Fly Nemo fly!

Otherwise things are good here...the other instruments are working (well besides the problems we had with the datalogger, but I figured out that the data drives needed to be reformatted!), I am sleeping great, and still really enjoying getting to know the other scientists and staff.

After two weeks at Summit, there is only one thing that annoys me: no toilet paper in the toilet. This is because I always forget and have to dig it out! Ugh!

So I took a shower tonight. For some reason I didn't feel as refreshed as before, but maybe that's just because I am use to it now.

Tonight we also played Trivial Pursuit! One of my favorite games! After two and a half hours, we finally got a winning team, Chris the medic and John on of the staff workers, although we did kind of help them out a bit because we were all ready for B-E-D!

Lunch: BBQ sandwich with chili, pickles, salad, tuna

Dinner: Buttery chicken, rice pilaf, salad, cottage cheese, pickles, apple pie

Smell-oh-Meter: 1...SO FRESH SO CLEAN!!!

Sun., July 6th: Bye Bye Nemo... :(

yep yep!

View from atop the 45 meter Swiss Tower taken by Craig Beals.

Looking down at me, Katrine, and Steve.

Looking SW at Satellite Camp. Lower/middle right it the NOAA observation building.

Zoom in of the main camp. In the middle is the Big House and right behind that is Tent City (yellow tents). The recreation port (cycling bikes and two couches and a tv for watching movies) is to the right of Tent City (black, long hotdog looking thing).

Well the tethersonde system has had a pretty good run...but last night around 11pm it may have seen the end of its career (well at least for Summit). We had a successful ascent, but when I began to bring in Nemo, the winch started to cry and moan out in angony. Initially I was in shock because I always thought Nemo would be the one to go, not the winch. I slowed the descent to about a quarter of the speed and then just stopped it all together. Once again I tried to bring Nemo down, but even full speed (level 6) was only about first gear (level 1).

I radioed into Katrine (UC-Irvine) and Craig (Montana) who ran out to Balloon Island (aka the tethersonde launch pad), which is about 70 meters to the east of Satellite Camp. We decided it was definitely time to get the Bad Boy Buggy and bring Nemo and the rest of the equipment inside. So I ran to get the Bad Boy Buggy from the main camp (about .65 miles) and let's just say it wasn't fun in 16 knots winds with my damn 500 pound boots. Fotunately I made it to the Buggy and back to Satellite Camp. By that time, Katrine and Craig had gotten Nemo back down to the ground. So we wresteled him under the power line and we're off to the balloon shed (were we store Nemo when the winds are too strong or when he needs a refill on Helium).

The winds were about 7 m/s at the surface and up to about 50 meters (from the sounding data), however, the winds were about 18 m/s around 525m. This was just too much for the winch, which had given its all for the last 6 weeks. And plus...a few hours later I read the operating manual and it said, "Operating temperature from 0C to 50C". So basically we have been operating under that threshold for six weeks. I'm talking all the way to -24C. We have a DC-8 flying over us on Tuesday and they're taking all sorts of measurements (most of them we also have at Summit Camp). Hopefully Willow the mechanic can fix the winch tomorrow so that we have the tethersonde system ready for the fly over on Tuesday. Craig and I took the cover off of it and unfortunately it looks as though the motor is burned out...booooo. Craig said Willow's body language did not look too promising when he explained what happened. Oh well...we'll see.

So I am still sleeping amazingly in my tent. From all the work and all of the trekking through the snow, when you hit the sheets (or sleeping bag in our case), it takes not time to doze off. It is great!

Today was leftovers day...which wasn't a bad thing at all. You see I love leftovers...even in high school I would bring leftovers for lunch...nothing like a steak sandwich when your friends have PB&J and slimey lunch meat! So for lunch I had steak, mashed potatoes, vegetarian shepard's pie, and zucchini. Mmmmmmmmmmm it was delicious! For dinner, some of the Satellite Camp group (Craig, Bonnie, Neil, and me) made an Italian meal: spaghetti with mushrooms, onion, garlic, artichoke, meatballs, garlic bread, and for dessert (drum roll please!)...very very very VERY VERY good warm apple pie! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm hmmmmmmmmm!

Only three days left (we leave Thursday around 8am). I will miss this place in a way and all of the great people from all over the world that I have met, but it will be nice to take regular showers and throw the toilet paper into the toilet!

Smell-oh-Meter: 4.5...pretty steady

Current Weather:
Temperature: 12F
Wind Chill: -6F

Take Care!

Sat., July 5th: "Throw Me Somethin' Mistah!!!"

Tour de Summit...Captain Americus won! Only one float went at a time because of the small number of people at camp (~30 people).

Me as "the shark"!

The frat float...Dar (cheesehead) and Ben (Captain Americus), two science technicians, are flashing the crowd! They also threw out beers to the crowd!

The July 4, 2008 Summit, Greenland parade! Krewe de Shenanigans!

Kathy (camp director, front of pig), Willow (mechanic, driver), and Kathy (assistant cook) on the pink pig!


Two English and one Canadian dressed up as Romans!

Me and the Romans

The "Female Traverse"

Back end of the "Female Traverse"...flowers and martinis!

Steve dressed up as a National Science Foundation scientist..."Your tax money at work!"


Me surfing behind the bad boy buggy (i.e. souped up, off road golf cart)...five seconds later I face
planted! Seriously...it kind of hurt! Ouch!

Dave (NOAA) holding our "Captain Jack's Halogen Hunters" banner. He walked in front of our float!

Getting all of the floats lined up.

The start of the parade...Will the cook banging on pots because we didn't have any drums. Katrine (Univ. of Colorado) holding the Swiss flag, Jocque (Univ. of Colorado) holding the Greenland flag, Kathy (assistant cook) holding the shenanigans flag (back right), and me way back left holding the American flag.

Me and Kathy starting the parade!!!


One of the boys floats...I cannot write the real name of it because it is inappropriate for soem readers...but it resembled a frat scene!

The beginning of our (Satellite Camp) float...pirate/under the sea theme. On top is Jin (GA Tech) with a hook, pirates in the bad boy buggy....

Second part of our float (attached to buggy) are two mermaids and one merman...last but not least is me...the shark!!!

"Tour de Summit" with Captain Americus and the cheese head! Captain Americus won...bring it on Lance Armstrong!!!

"The pink pig"! This was the original water tank that supplied Summitt...see...I told you there is a small supply!

Well HELLO HELLO! What a wonderful, fun, and entertaining day we had here at Summit Camp! Everyone worked hard on their floats for the parade, and it was a blast! You would be amazed at how creative the floats were!

The parade was at 4pm (LT) followed by a BBQ and then a dance party (the Big House actually has a disco ball hanging from the ceiling). It was really great having a break for a couple hours, although I did leave at 6pm and 9pm to do a tethersonde launch (Nemo). After the 9pm launch, we couldn't get Nemo reeled back in because the winds were very strong. So after two hours we finally got him back in using the winch and into the balloon shed. Whew! I was very very scared that we wouldn't be able to to get him back.

I'll post even more pics later!

Smell-oh-meter: 4...hair is not fresh at ALL!

Take Care!

Fri., July 4th: HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Hey everyone! Do you have big plans today? Maybe swimming at the pool, boating at the lake, fishing, BBQ'ing, going to the park, or watching fireworks? I'd love to hear how everyone is celebrating!

Us Summitiers are celebrating the 4th tomorrow because although we have to still work, the staff has Saturday and Sunday off. The festivities start at 4pm tomorrow with a parade! YaY! Our group, Satellite Camp, has a "Captain Jack's Halogen Hunters" theme. Dr. Jack Dibb from the University of Houston is the principal investigator of our field campaign and Polar Palooza made a video about him and the team last year (hence the aforementioned theme). You can check it out at http://passporttoknowledge.com/polar-palooza/pp06.php. The far right Ipod has all of the videos about him and the team. We are using pirate decorations...I just know we will have the best float!!!

Strong winds from yesterday began to dissipate last night because of a high pressure system that moved over us. Today was sooooooo WARM! I felt like sunbathing on the snow! The main reason it felt relatively warm was because the winds were very very light (~2 m/s). Nemo was able to fly every 3 hours between 9am and 12am.

I went to change the back-up memory drive on our data logger at the Swiss meteorological tower. The screen was blank and the current memory drive had no data on it so I began to troubleshoot. On my second trip, I believe, I was waiting to see if my troubleshooting worked and so I sat down next to the data logger (about 10 feet out from the base of the tower). I looked out onto the snow sheet with the beautiful sky consisting of all different shades of blue and purple with the intense sun heating up my clothes. The moment was so serene and the view breathtaking. As I looked around at all of the snow, I realized I hadn't eaten any yet. So I reached down, picked some up, and put it in my mouth. The I remembered that I had blown a snot rocket there the day before when it was very cold and windy! Ewwwwwwwwwwwww! Oh well...at least it was mine! haha

After three trips out to the tower (not very fun because nobody EVER goes out there so the snow is deep), I finally was able to get it working. On my way back, I decided our group should have a "snow cone" (aka shaved ice) cart in the parade using the fruit concentrate!

After dinner, Craig (Montana), Katrine (UC-Irvine), and I went to the tower to add tie wraps to the thermocouple (measure temperature) wires that run down the 45 meter tower. So I made another trip to the tower, but this time it was more fun because the data logger was working and we got to watch Craig climb the tower. Katrine had to leave to take her gas samples before Craig was finished so I became kind of bored (someone has to be there for safety purposes). I decided to have some fun with the snow...so I made a snow angel and wrote some things in the snow also (see the pictures!). Actually it was a lot of fun entertaining myself and before I knew it...Craig was done!

For lunch: chicken strips, tator tots, salad, avocado

For dinner: sirloin steak, vegetarian shepherd's pie, yams, the best sourdough bread ever!, sauteed leeks, pineapple, salad

Smell-oh-Meter: 3...still doing okay

Take Care!

Thurs., July 3: House Mouse Day!

I just would like to thank everyone for their comments to my blog posts. It is great logging into blogger.com and seeing them!

Everyone at Summit camp is assigned a designated "House Mouse" day. Today was my and Max's day. The House Mouse is in charge of making coffee in the morning, doing all the dishes, vaccuming, sweeping, mopping, cleaning the bathroom, washing the dish towels, clearning the countertops, and taking out the trash. Let's just say that those chores keep the mice VERY BUSY!...especially with 30 people in camp dirtying up dishes. We also have to try to keep up with our daily scientific duties. Being the mouse is definitely very tiring, and I definitely would never like to work in a restaurant kitchen!...I'm glad I worked other odd jobs in college like selling Cutco knives, counseling at soccer camps, and working at Hollister. Surprisingly there are a few good things about mousing: the mouse (or mice in our case) gets to choose the music (I made a very random playlist on my Ipod from LSU fight song, to T-Pain's Cyclone, to the New Orleans Second Line, to the Eagles, to Alan Jackson, to Pearl Jam) and it is a nice break from the science.

I am really wiped out from only averaging about 5 hours of sleep every night since I've been here and from walking in the snow (75% of the time it's not packed AT ALL) with boots that are too big.

I am glad that I House Moused today because the winds were about 18 or so knots throughout the day so we could not fly Nemo once again. The winds are suppose to decrease so hopefully he will be up and flying tomorrow. (fingers crossed).

One of my favorite things about Summit is there is not a television (well there are actually a couple, but obviously not for "television" but rather for movies). So I am getting to know a lot of people from all over the world who otherwise I would have never met. The group is really enjoying listening to everyone's favorite type of music, playing games such as Scrabble (I know it sounds nerdy! :)), and playing lots and lots of cards (my favorite!). I have learned new games such as Devyatka (a Russian card game similar Rummikub), youker, and three (similar to Gin Rummy but you can steal cards from people's straights and four of a kind). We have also played the old favorites such as "spoons" (which I won!!!) and gin rummy. It is really wonderful winding down for the night by playing some cards and visiting with all types of people. I am very thankful for the opportunity to come to Summit and the people I have met definitely are a large part of that.

Today for lunch: kosher chili dogs with sauerkraut, hashbrowns, pickles, salad, chili, fresh oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies (my favorite, Kathy the assistant chef made them for me!...another advantage of being the Mouse) and ginger and chocolate chip cookies.

For dinner: salmon, spinach salad with fruit, bacon, and egg, wild rice, zucchini with diced tomato (I thought it might be Rotel from the can. I said this outloud and nobody had ever heard of Rotel!!! (people from Florida, Toronto, Montana, England). I attempted to explain that you can put it in mexican cheese dip or spaghetti...still not a clue!!!). Tiramisu was for dessert.

Current Weather:
Temperature: 15F
Wind Chill: -2F
Winds: 23MPH

Smell-oh-Meter: 3.5...big jump today because I cleaned all day. I smell like chlorox...booooo :(

Everyone have a safe and fun July 4th! I have to say this will be my first "white" July 4th! Kind of weird that I've had more snow on the 4th than on Christmas!!!

Take Care!!! xoxoxo

Wed., July 2: Strong Winds Again!

Today was a pretty good day for science. We were able to fly Nemo at 12am, 3am, 6am, 9am, 12pm, and 3pm. During the 3pm launch, the winds increased substantially and immediately afterward we had to bring him back to the balloon barn. It took both me and Craig (Montana) to tame Nemo...NOT fun!

Another great night in the tent. Seriously somehow I am sleeping great! I don't know what I will do when I get back...a pillow top bed under only one sheet and not three layers of clothing zipped up over my head in a sleeping bag and fleece liner. It might just be like the movie "Castaway" with Tom Hanks...me on the floor with a sleeping bag! We'll see!

The following are some questions from some friends and family. I figured maybe some of you have similar questions...so here goes!
1. Are you going to show them how to make any Louisiana food, I guess you can't show them how to do a GA bbq.
*I was thinking about doing a red beans and rice, but I am not sure if I will have time. Gumbo would be a really nice treat especially in the cold. I'll let you guys know!

2. Are you learning how to make any of the things that you have eaten from other countries?
*No, unfortunately there is not a lot of time for people to share recipes from their home country. But we did learn a lot about Canada's history on Canada day, and I also have been trying my friend Jin's Chinese cuisine.

3. I know you have limited water use but do you have to take a cold shower or something of that nature?
*No, there is plenty of hot water, but you really only have two minutes of water time (you turn the water off and scrub your hair and soap up). And you are only suppose to shower once a week. Our water supply comes from melted snow. When you take a shower, you look at the water level in the tank behind the kitchen so everybody knows if you use a lot of water.

4. Also what are your sleeping arrangements like (sleeping bag, cot, bed)?
*I sleep on a cot with a sleeping bag and a fleece liner (picture in previous post) in a tent (seven by seven feet). My bag is on the floor.

5. Did they provide you all your gear or did you have to buy it?
*My advisor, Dr. Lefer, took me to REI to purchase all of the gear that I needed. Four pairs of long johns, 4 pairs of wool socks, three toboggans, ski pants, fleece long johns, five pairs of gloves, Cabella boots, two pairs of fleece boot liners, fleece sleeping bag liner, waterproof/windproof jacket, faux down jacket. I think that's it.

6. Have you seen any wildlife or is it just too damn cold and too little food up there for any animals?
*There is absolutely NO wildlife here. It is too cold. The nearest living thing is about 650 miles away (Toule, Greenland).

7. What is your actual return date and how long is the trip?
*I left Houston on June 22nd and will return on July 12th.

So I hope that answers most of your questions. Feel free to ask more! :)

Today for lunch we had sloppy joe's, pickles, french fries, and salad. The sloppy joe's were delicious! As usual...fresh chocolate chip cookies and also some pear pie!

For dinner we had pumpkin tortellinis, mushroom and asparagus over quinoa foccaccia bread, goat cheese and roasted tomatoes ravioli, meat sauce, marinara sauce, alfredo sauce,
sausauge, and more cookies!

Smell-oh-Meter: 2...because I had to help with dishes, and I smell like chlorox

Current Weather:
Temperature: 5F
Wind Chill: -14F

Take Care!

Thurs., July 1: BACK TO 1 ON THE SMELL-OH-METER!

Tara with the Canadian chocolate cake!

Canadian favorite (top right)...poutine!

One of the Summit camp generators.

Me, Jin (GA Tech, white coat) and Louisa (Michigan Tech) in the underground FREEEEZER!

Cool looking ice crystal along the entrance to the underground freezer.

I feel like a Million Bucks! After eight days, I caved in tonight at about 11:30pm. I was contemplating showering as I was walking to the Big House and once I was inside, I started talking to a few people about showering. I didn't want to be the first to shower out of the people that came to Summit on my flight, but all three of the ones I spoke with had already showered! So I went to my tent and packed up a change of clothes and also gathered my dirty clothes to wash.

I attempted to time myself (everyone is suppose to shoot for 2 minutes of water time), but I am not use to my new Timex watch Rob bought for me the day before I left. When I turned off the water to scrub my shampoo, I also stopped my watch. Instead of it stopping, however, it went to lap 2 and began timing! So I figure I was around 3 minutes. Personally, it is much more difficult for people with long hair (and I don't say "women" because some of the male staff have long hair...i'm talking they braid it) because it takes about a minute to get the shampoo out!

HAPPY CANADA DAY! Today Summit camp celebrated Canada Day with our lone Canadian Tara. For lunch, we had poutine, a popular Canadian snack: french fries, gravy, topped with cheese curds along with ham, homemade mac and cheese, salad, asparagus scone, and chocolate chip cookies. For dinner, we had "momma's chicken" (and boyyyyyy...mama can cook), mashed potatoes (mmmmmmmmm soooooooooooo gooooood), asparagus, salad, honey-ginger baked pears, and chocolate cake with homemade vanilla frosting with blueberries. This was my favorite meal thus far because it reminded me of home and Thanksgiving...and plus I just LOVE mashed taters (and they're made just like ours...just TERRRRIBLE!).

After dinner, Tara sang the Canadian national anthem in French. Each of the four tables also sang (or attempted to sing) the anthem in French. Jocque, a Frenchman but attending the University of Colorado, judged all of the tables. And of course, our table won!!! Everyone was so impressed with my voice...haha yeah right!

Nemo flew every 3 hours today! He was quite busy, and we did have to add a little bit of Helium at the end of the day, but we are just so happy that our patchwork is still holding up. I have been busy flying the tethersonde (Nemo), processing data, and writing code for some stability parameters using the tethersonde and Swiss meteorological tower data. We have been pretty busy, but are making a lot of headway and still find a little bit of time for some fun.

Today, we had a false alarm with the Flux building (University of Colorado and Michigan Tech). The NO (very toxic) sensor went off, and we saw the red blinking warning light from one of or windows at satellite camp. We radioed the Big House, but when they tried to contact the Flux building nobody responded. They asked us (me, Craig, Katrine) to go check on them. Luckily they were okay and told us it was a false alarm because the senosor was reading 0 ppb of NO and they also said NO has a very sharp and distinct smell (which we took their word for because they are chemists). Whew! That was close!

Smell-oh-Meter: 1...Zestfully Clean!!!!!!!!!!

Current Weather:
Temperature: 3F
Wind Chill: -12F

Yall take care ya here?

Pics and Video!

Tara (Univ. of Toronto PhD student) plutting on her plastic gloves so that she doesn't contaminate her snow sampling site. While at Summit, she decided to add another experiement for fun: looking at the differences between chemical reactions taking place in the direct sunlight and in the shade.

Here is Tara retrieving a shaded snow sample!

Max and Steve (UCLA) with their long-path Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS). DOAS is a method to determine concentrations of trace gases by measuring their specific narrow band absorption structures in the UV and visible spectral region. DOAS identifies many trace gases in the atmosphere, e.g. OH, NO3, HONO, BrO, IO. It is still one of the most appropriate methods to measure HONO in the open atmosphere.

The Swiss 45 meter meteorological tower. Here we measure temperature at ten different heights and wind speed at three heights. Can you tell where the snow and sky meet?

One of the anemometers that measures wind speed and direction on the Swiss tower.

Our above snow actinic flux spectroradiometer.

GA Tech's Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (CIMS) on the back left that measures different free radicals compounds (HOx) in a specific and quick manner. These free radicals react very fast in the atmosphere and are basically the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere ("clean up the atmosphere"). The other CIMS on the middle left measures HCl, BrO, Br2, pernitric acid, and several more stable compounds.

Our snow actinic flux spectroradiometer that measures radiation from about 3000-5600 nanometers at five different depths within the snow. The energy spectrum is important for understanding chemistry in the snow, and the gases that can be produced through reactions at high energy (short wavelengths).



Fiber optic cables belonging to the snow actinic flux spectroradiometer.

Another shot of the snow spectroradiometer and the five cables.




Me sledding in front of the big house before our game of golf a few days ago.