Not today anyway

A C-5 Starlifter visited Kangerlussuaq airport last week, bringing cargo and people north to Greenland. Under wing: two C-130s, the workhorses of NSF's polar programs. All photos: Ed Stockard

The ash plume from Iceland’s exploding Eyjafjallajokull volcano drifted toward Greenland today, leading officials to close airports on the island’s southwestern coast, including Kangerlussuaq, the main logistics hub for the National Science Foundation’s polar research program in Greenland.  Scientists and support personnel  bound for Greenland waited in Schenectady, near the Stratton Air Base, in Scotia, New York, from which the Air National Guard 109th Airlift Wing flies the ski-equipped C-130s.

Last week while many of Europe’s airports were shuttered due to the ash cloud, Greenland’s airports remained open and program personnel arriving from the US were able to reach Kangerlussuaq—some in the gigantic C-5a Galaxy airplane that visited from Stewart Air Base in Newburgh, New York. But the winds shifted on Monday, sending the cloud on a westerly path toward Greenland.

The Air National Guard’s 109^th Airlift Wing, which provides the C-130 heavy airlift for the U.S. polar programs, will monitor airport closures and meteorological information, daily making go/no-go announcements for personnel waiting for flights to resume.

The C-5a Galaxy with the agile Ken Borek Twin Otter taxiing by.

Comments (0) Apr 20 2010

And Speaking of New 

PFS 2.0: Natalia and Damen Guthrie. Photo: Liza Vaughn Guthrie

A father of five females, Earl Vaughn once joked that he’d “daughtered-out” his line. But to hear the PFS cargo manager in Scotia, New York, talk about his beloved girls, we knew he didn’t really mind. And now Earl’s daughters are giving him grandchildren, the latest of whom is another strapping grandson from daughter Liza. 

The newest addition to the extended Vaughn family: Damen Guthrie, in his big sis Natalia's arms. Also pictured: mom Liza (Earl's daughter) and dad Dan "Dino" Guthrie. Photo: Earl Vaughn

It's hard work being born. Dino and Damen take a snooze. Photo: Earl Vaughn

Knowing what he knows about holiday juggling acts in big, extended families, Earl prepared a huge pre-Christmas feast on December 22nd, so that all his girls and their assorted significants and children could attend. “It was great,” Earl said. “Everyone was here–my daughter Arianna even flew in from Oregon.”

Earl’s girls: Alex, Liza, Sarah and Arianna. Photo: Earl Vaughn

Significants include  109^th Air National Guard pilot Tom Esposito, Alex’s husband and father of two of Earl’s growing brood of grandchildren. With Tom flying for NSF’s polar research programs, and Liza and Dino working for Earl in the Scotia cargo arena, Earl has quite the family polar dynasty going, daughtered-out or not. We expect nothing less, since Earl is, as we discovered when we profiled him a few years ago for field notes, a force of nature. 

Kids love a bit of bubble wrap: Natalia and cousin Anna Esposito. Anna is Earl's granddaughter as well, born to daughter Alexa and husband Tom Esposito, a pilot with the Air National Guard 109th. Photo: Earl Vaughn

Comments (0) Jan 01 2010

We thank our friends in the New York Air National Guard 109th Airlift Wing for their service to our country.

The 109th 'skibird' on snow at NEEM drill camp in Greenland. Photo: Ed Stockard

Directing traffic on the sea-ice runway at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Photo courtesy 109th ANG

Master Sgt. Ed Holub is welcomed home from a tour in Afghanistan by his children September 15th. Photo courtesy ANG 109th

Comments (0) Nov 11 2009

Watch Saturday/Sunday 7 -10am EDT

Robbie Score in front of the NEEM dome. Photo: Ed Stockard

Those of us in the U.S. wishing to visit the U Copenhagen-led NEEM drilling camp (or to fly with the Air National Guard 109th Airlift Wing) on the Greenland ice sheet should tune in to the Weather Channel this Saturday and Sunday (October 10 and 11) between 7am and 11am EDT. A crew from StormCenter (Dan Cohen, Steven Holloway, Rick Patterson and Heidi Cullen from Climate Central) visited Greenland last July and produced some stories about NEEM and the ANG that air this weekend.

Whet your appetite with video clips posted on the StormCenter Web site; they do a great job of putting you on the ice sheet, in the core rooms, in the cockpit with the Guard flight crew. They also make it clear that for everyone doing the work, it’s more than a job. NEEM field coordinator JP Steffensen (U Copenhagen) refers to his 29 years of research in Greenland as a “marriage for life” while ANG Lt. Col George Alston says the mission is “a great way to contribute to the nation.” And the woman with the biggest NEEM title of all, Chief Scientist Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, she can’t suppress a grin when she admits she just “wants to work with the cores.”

The ANG provides the airlift muscle to the drilling camp, and the footage inside the cockpit looks great. “We shot some amazing footage,” agrees Dave Jones, head of StormCenter, “and we will continue to tell the stories that need to be told.” Jones has particularly kind words for the ANG, writing, “I can’t tell you how proud I am that the 109th exists! Thank you for all you do to advance our understanding of science and global climate change.”

Comments (0) Oct 09 2009

Through Ed Stockard’s Viewfinder

Ed sent pictures of the seasonal close-out in Kangerlussuaq.

A smiling Silver Williams catches up with Torre Stockard at the Kanger airport. Silver has just returned from a season at Camp Raven, the Air National Guard's training facility in Greenland. She and partner Drew Abbott maintained the skiway and kept the remote site operational for the ANG.

A C-130 disgorges a Spryte driven by Drew Abbott. The vehicle is used for skiway grooming at Camp Raven.

The Air National Guard 109th Aerial Port buttons up a frozen sample shipment bound for the US. "Thanks Aerial Port and CPS staff for the smooth and successful exit of this shipment. Thanks to Paula Adkins, Torre Stockard, Andrew Young, Chris Getz, Graham Love and Mark Albershardt for getting out the door at 5am to make this happen," Ed writes.

To celebrate the end of the season, CPS hosts a barbeque on the banks of Lake Fergusson.

Here, Jack Dibb (UNH) and Brandon Burmiester (CPS) take their turns at the grill at Firehouse 4 on Lake Fergusson.

"The party is a chance for CPS staff to enjoy a final evening with the New York Air National Guard, locals and scientists in a casual and beautiful setting. This year brought clear, breezy weather and a fine time was had by all," writes Ed.

The last flight of the 2009 science season departed Greenland in the early morning of August 30.  But we’re not quite done:  Mark Begnaud and Ed Stockard remain behind, as they do each year, for the final buttoning up. They have about  two weeks to go of checking and inventorying field and communications equipment, closing buildings, winterizing vehicles, cleaning out our offices in the Kangerlussuaq International Science Support building–”sorting, organizing, fixing…always fixing the old trucks, drying, stacking, throwing away, sighing, sending, receiving, sleeping in on a Sunday (finally), cleaning, counting, stuffing, and so on,” Ed explains.

Ed will depart on September 11 when the Air National Guard returns to Greenland to position the Greenland Inland Traverse project team at Thule Air Base. Mark will remain for a few more days before returning to the US via Denmark on a commercial flight.

“I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home.

“Closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”  (Semisonic, Closing Time)

Comments (0) Aug 31 2009