"Adapting"

Location: Summit, Greenland
Days on the ice: 14

It is now the start of week number three and my blood oxygen level is now up to 91%. Whoohoo! It was around 87% a few days after my arrival. Things are moving up!

After two weeks here, I've definitely become a different person with the environment around me. Two weeks ago, I stepped off the plane wearing about 3 layers and without an inch of skin exposed. Now, I'm trucking around warm in just a fleece jacket and my neckwarmer is only on during the really cold (temp around -30 C) times.

However, my lungs are definitely still recognizing that I'm at about 40% less oxygen up here at ~12,000 feet! I tried to play soccer yesterday...it was the funniest game I have ever played. All of us would run around in the snow in our boots and after only about 2 minutes of play, we were all hanging our heads and gasping for air. My lungs were on fire - I have never felt anything like it! Here's a picture of the soccer game...

After playing for about an hour and completely wiping ourselves out, we decided volleyball might be an easier sport to play...

On the research end, all is well in the neighborhood here. It has been an incredibly busy couple of weeks, between getting all our air measurements going and starting to do lots of snow measurements as well. OH, but my big exciting news is that I've been given a sleeping upgrade! A couple days ago, I moved from my little yellow tent to a big red weatherport - a group tent with cots! It is also about 10 degrees warmer at night - which is a wonderful thing. I have happily traded my privacy for those extra 10 degrees of warmth.

More to come soon!