cache of blogs: Volume 1; Perpetual Vacations

I have been very busy lately, and just returned from Nome today, the 28th of July. I was not able to publish another post pre-Nome, so here it is now. More will be comming:

It is interesting how the entire town of Barrow seems to always be on a perpetual vacation. The whales come, they must go, then nalukataqs up the yin yang. Then the seals are out on the ice, so they must go. Then the geese come in, so they must go. In the defense of the locals, however, I must say that they live off subsistence hunting.

The entire week of the 4th of July was like one big holiday. The 2nd was Founder's Day for the North Slope Borough (and Perry's Birthday :) ), which is the seat of government for this area (by the way, the North Slope of Alaska refers to the area of land above the Brooks Mountain Range and includes Barrow, Prudhoe Bay, Point Hope, Point Lay, Atqasuk, Ivotuk and several other small towns). The 4th of July celebrations begin on the 3rd, and include games, dancing and races....boat races, foot races and so on.

The 5th of July----HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

Sandra, Dave and I headed out to the ITEX site to do some reflectance measurements. I love the ITEX site, I find it peaceful and it is really pretty out there. I also like that there aren't as many people or edifices. All of the flowers were blooming, the pink columnar Pedicularis lanata (wooly lousewort) is beautiful and is one of the first flowers I saw after the thaw. They are bright pink and fuzzy with leaves that are fern-like. and bright yellow Ranunculus nivalus (snow buttercups), the even brighter yellow Papaver Macounii (the Arctic poppy). I really like the Tundra rose, which is yellow with separated petals. There are several buckwheats here too that are blooming and are a hue of red.

Sandra came with us to check out the site, it was her first time out there and she relished the beauty as well. I have been trying to keep up with my insect collecting, but I am finding it difficult to massacre pretty little bugs. I tried to catch a huge bee with its pollen sacs full, but I didn't have a large enough vial. Anyway....

After our fieldwork, we went back to eat and go catch Chico's talk at the Heritage Center. Chico is from El Paso, and works with a logistics company called VECO Polar. They support research in Antarctica, Greenland, Russia, Alaska and all over the Arctic. This guy is quite inspiring and has traveled all around the world. He didn't go to college, but he is always educating himself, is very motivated and a hard worker. I'm really happy I got to know him. BASC holds what are called "schoolyard talks" in which the public and anyone who wants to go is invited to hear a speaker. The talks are on scientific research and other interesting topics. Chico's was on his some 16 years of working and living at both poles while supporting research. His resume includes a culmination of 14 years in the Antarctic and 4 in the Arctic. It made me even more excited to go to Antarctica than I thought possible after hearing his talk. Here are a few highlights that stuck in my mind after the talk:

About 98% of Antarctica is covered in ice and snow at a low average of 1.6 km thick. It is the coldest, driest and windiest contenet on the planet. What I thought was really interesting is that the precipitation is very very low, and the the interior is actually considered a desert. The little bit of precipitation packs and packs year after year. It is the coldest place on Earth, with temperatures reaching between -130 and 59 degrees Farenheight. Chico told us he was once caught in a reallybed storm that chilled everything. They had to run into an emergency hut (they are located all over) for shelter, and the temperature dropped so low that anything made of glass just shattered; this was during winter.

There are three stations on the continent; the Palmer Station on the Arctic Peninsula, McMurdo Station by the Ice Shelf, and the South Pole Station in the interior. Palmer station is accessed by way of South America, and then traveling via boat. McMurdo is accessed by traveling from New Zealand, and South Pole Station can be reached via McMurdo.

The Antarctic is also home to several bizarre phenomena, including the "sun dog" or parhelion, which is a halo or atmospheric optical phemonenon that looks like a bright spot next to the sun.

There are also the southern lights:

I was captivated after hearing about nacreous clouds, also called polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs). The image on the screen was eery; a feathery ghost-like cloud hovered over a research base reflecting several wavelengths of color. Even the name had an ominous undertone...nacreous. PSCs are clouds that form at very low temperatures (-176 degrees Farenheight) and at high altitudes (50,000-80,000 ft.) They form in the winter in the stratosphere and are composed of a mix of ice, nitric acid and sulfuric acid. They are basically ice with a liquid coating of nitric acid tri-hydrate. The toxic mix is responsible for ozone depletion, and a study by NASA and Naval Research Institute found that exhaust from the space shuttle can create them. They are also caused by aerosols.

The interior is dangerous; there are huge crevaces below the surface that you can't even see. The researchers and workers are clipped to each other by rope wherever they go. Chico fell into a crevace and said it was analagous to being blindfolded and walking off the edge of a building when you don't know where the edge is. He said he was scrambling and fumbling in the darkness as fell trying to get a grip with his ice axe. The people in front of him didn't notice for a while, but they came and pulled him out (they were all tied in). As he was emerging from the darkness, another guy fell into another crevasse, and they fell in again later on that day! He said any day could be your last, but you would go out with a bang.

Chico and his team members tied together

A pic of Chico and some researchers exploring a huge crevasse

There is also another intersting phenomenon: crazy people doing a polar plunge! You are tied onto a rope for the plunge in Antarctica.

I also enjoyed hearing about the various fauna of Antarctica, especially the leopard seal. They are small and stealthy and agressive. Chico said that one of them tried to bite through the rubber zodiac, and that they had to hit it with an ore. There are stories of them biting at people's feet, and one incident of a marine biologist who was snorkeling being dragged down to her death by a leopard seal.

There are also better tempered fur seals, which used to be hunted down for, well, their fur.

And elephant seals, and penguins, penguins, penguins. There are large colonies of them in a few spots. I particularly like the regal emperor penguin. Oh yeah, there is an area where a glacier rose up and broke off, trapping a small population of seals. They have inbreed, and over time have become fat and big mutant seals!

An elephant seal yawning or yellingThe overylying message behind Chico's talk: Live life to the fullest. Take advantage of the opportunities you are presented with because you never know when you are going to get a chance to experience something again, or where fate will take you next.

After the talk we headed out to eat at the Aurora cafe, and then went to a dance. It was a lot of fun, they called people out based on age group. I think the elders were the best dancers of all.

Comming very very soon....My adventures preparing for component fluxes and Nome, and my trip to Nome. (After a short recovery)