"A visit to the drillers"
Days on the ice: umm...25? I think I'm starting to lose count.

Two nights ago, I went with two cooks (Marge and Sarah) and Katie (a staff science tech) to check out the big operation going on with ICDS - Ice Core Drilling Services. These guys are testing out a new drill design that will be heading to Antarctica to do deep ice drilling. They have about 8 crew up here working around the clock trying to dig to about 900 m...I can't tell you how far back in time that is, but I am sure it is well over 1000 years back of ice.

We decided to try out the "Mule" - a cross between a tanker and a golf cart...that goes about a mile per hour. I believe it is here for testing use...


A close-up of the group...Marge, Katie, and Sarah. Sarah is wearing a unique neckwarmer - it is actually made out of musk ox fur.


We showed up around 9 pm to visit the night crew that were running the drill. One of the unique things about this drill is that it rotates up after drilling, allowing a very long core to be cut. Usually, drills cut about 1 m at a time - this one cuts 4 m. Below is a picture of the drill rotated up for removal of the ice core.


And here is the crew with the core tube part of the drill, about to remove the ice. I was very excited when they let me pitch in a hand by holding the tube steady with a special wrench while they screwed it all back together.


These guys have about 4 more weeks to go of 24/7 drilling! I believe they are around 350 m so far and going deeper.

"It's a Gene!"
Days on the ice: 22!

Who is that glowing newcomer? Has he come to save me from endless hours of labwork?!


YES! It's GENE!



(we had a little too much fun with the sun halo tonight...)

"Comings and goings"
Days on the ice: 21!

It is a really interesting thing being a long-timer here on the ice sheet. I have now seen two flight periods come and go, with a planeload of folks arriving and leaving. Each flight period, the camp dynamics change and there is a whole new group of people to get to know!

The first flight period, I had to say goodbye to two from my group - Mike and Kevin, and quite a few other good friends that I will miss! Here's a picture of some folks getting snowmobiled to the plane...my French buddy, Xavier, is in the front, Mike is 4th...



And the last flight period, I was sad to say goodbye to Lora, Meredith, and Justin from U-Washington! Here's Meredith and I in one of our last (weep weep) pictures!!


Before the Washington folks left, we sent them off with flair...partying it up in the "Rec Port". At some point in the evening, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to put on the "Burning Log" video for some ambience...oh yes, someone out there in the world made a 60 min video of a fireplace. Hee hee. Here's Rob and Casey, UNH, enjoying the warmth of the fire...


And now, with about 20 having left and 10 having arrived...camp is a new place! For one thing, there are definitely less ladies around now. Out at our satellite camp (1/2 mile away and shared by 4 universities), we now have 7 dudes and me! I've decided I'm now the princess of the sat camp. I need to find some press-on nails around here to keep my femininity. Although I'm sad to see so many good friends go, I now am excited to hang out with the newcomers. New to the Sat Camp are Gene (GT), Jack (UNH), Mike (U-Washington), Joe (U-Washington).

And, one special person who just left is Pat - a camp staffer who is a jack-of-all-trades. He is the "hardcore" guy who wintered over here and skiied in -85 C! Before he left yesterday, he gave me a CD with some pictures he took during the winter. These are pretty amazing! Thought I might share a couple...

Hardcore Pat out in February...

And an amazing picture he took of northern lights and the Big House...

SUN DOGS!!

Ice crystals + midnight sun = gorgeous sun dogs...I took this shot around 11:30 pm yesterday.

"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!