Science on Ice

Went to Summit Camp for an NSF Science and Education Visit. The group consisted of a mix of Americans, Greenlanders, and Danes. Going in, no one really knew what exactly was the purpose of the visit or what we would be doing. I learned about my involvement in the trip while I was on the ice at NEEM and figured I would be the only one lost with regards to the trip. So it was nice (and even more confusing) to discover that no one had a clue. There is supposedly a blog/webpage dedicated to our trip (I linked to it in a previous post), so I will let that explain most of it. Instead here are some pictures and random musings from the time at Summit.





Summit is higher in elevation than NEEM (3300 meters compared to 2600 meters?) and I noticed the elevation. Aside from my mountain ascent (only 1,000 meters) while on the east coast, it had been since Geography Field Camp, Summer 2007 since I’d been above 10,000 feet or done any mountaineering. I don’t know if I was lucky or my previous high altitude experience helped but the effects of altitude soon faded. Others weren’t so lucky. The first day was spent mostly lounging around, adjusting to the elevation, drinking water, and touring some of the science facilities.
The amount of infrastructure is amazing and I rant about this in a post for the Visit Site log. Basically, Summit is a U.S. run camp, meaning the NSF contracts a logistics support staff that contructs camp and keeps it running. At NEEM, the scientists ARE the ‘logistics staff’. There were approximately 52 people at Summit Camp, including our group of ~13. We slept in the scientist Tent Village (JLL/Colter Bay anyone?) and of course has excellent food from the camp cook. The camp staff did an amazing job of catering to our group and making the experience incredibly comfortable and interesting. In the winter, four campers keep the camp open and I must admit I’m a little curious to try that out. A three month shift with three others in near complete darkness? Well, I’m in the midst of surviving three months of near solo traveling in total light… so why not try wintering over.


The next day we toured all of the facilities at camp, got to launch a weather balloon, viewed a double sided snow pit (note the visible layers which relate to the accumulation radar data I work with at CReSIS)

I gave a presentation about ice cores, accumulation data, and also hunters and locals knowledge of climate change. It went okay (only two or three nodded off) considering that I threw it together with two weeks notice, no laptop, and no real resources other than help from a NEEM colleague. And since the majority of the group spoke Danish, the text of the presentation was in Danish.
It was later in the summer and thus much warmer than my time at NEEM. And with all the support staff, warm buildings, and great food, it was luxury. The final day myself and a Danish teacher teaching in Greenland borrowed skis and went cross country skiing on the ice. It was my first time trying cross country, but my downhill skiing skills gradually tranferred and allow us to get some distance from camp.


So again, my luck continues as I got to visit Summit, a place that would normally only be accessible if you had ongoing research. It is of particular interest for me because it is the site of all my accumulation data I work with. The data was collected in 2005 before I arrived at KU and so it was great to finally see the terrain connected to my data.