One down, one to go

A quick stop on the roof of the world to drop off the last bit of science cargo, pick up the outgoing Summit staff and refuel the Twin Otter, and the Norlandair crew headed to Kangerlussuaq. Photo: Katrine Gorham

The first of two ‘take out’ flights departed Summit Station for Kangerlussuaq on Saturday, carrying the five-person, November-to-February winter crew with it. A second flight scheduled for today was canceled due to weather in Kangerlussuaq. “There is a big front moving in from the south, and the pilots are concerned about icing conditions,” wrote Tracy Sheeley, CPS operations manager for the station. As a result of the cancellation, Tracy and Katrine Gorham, our science projects manager, remain at Summit, the NSF-funded research station with our new five-person staff.

We’re delighted that our winter crew got out on time, and will keep you posted on the take-out. Stay tuned!–Kip Rithner

If you're happy and you know it, pose for a picture! Many thanks to our Phase II Summit winter crew, which is off to warmer climes and lower latitides. Photo: Katrine Gorham

Comments (0) Feb 12 2012

Staff return to Summit Station's Big House during a spring storm. Photo: Katrine Gorham

Due to high winds and low visibility on the ice sheet, a scheduled flight to Summit Station, Greenland, has been cancelled today. The flight would have brought additional personnel and supplies to the outpost to prepare for the busy summer research period. An advance team arrived on Thursday and has begun turnover with the staff of five who have been maintaining ongoing experiments since early November.

Saturday’s forecast calls for improving conditions, though continued high winds may keep the staff grounded in Kangerlussuaq for another day. Stay tuned.

Comments (0) Feb 03 2012

What light through yonder window breaks?

Dawn breaks at Summit Station for the first time in 2012. From left, in the distance, the Temporary Atmospheric Watch Observatory, Swiss Tower (on which instruments are mounted), Science and Operations Barn, the Green House, and the Big House. January 31, 2012. Photo: Ben Toth

Our friends at Summit Station welcomed the sun yesterday. “I could almost even feel its warmth on my face…. almost,” wrote station manager Ben Toth.

The sun is returning, and so is a small plane, which should approach the station via Iceland tomorrow. It will drop off fresh veggies and an advance team of staff, then fly to Kangerlussuaq to pick up the remaining staff waiting to get in to Summit.  It’s time for a fresh crew to prepare for the busy research season ahead.

So far, the forecast is favorable, so cross your fingers. Meanwhile, here’s another picture of the dawn.

The Temporary Atmospheric Watch Observatory blocks the sun, which helps reveal the Yukimarimo (snow doodles) in the foreground. Photo: Ben Toth

Comments (0) Feb 01 2012

Yukimarimo. Photo: Shannon Coykendall

A late December bedecking of Yukimarimo around Summit Station seemed like “a present befitting the season,” wrote Ben Toth, whose team is keeping the NSF-funded research station and its ongoing experiments running through mid-winter.

“These little snowballs occur when fine frost layers form on the snow surface at cold air temperatures,” Ben explained. “These balls form due to weak wind conditions and become mobile, like little tumbleweeds across the surface, collecting in pockets sculpted by drift or in footprints.”

Ben says the team of five “finished off the year with a productive week sandwiched between the two holidays. Christmas Sunday was celebrated with the requisite Christmas tunes, a lit tree, decorations, and a Kiwi-style meal of “good tucker.” Rack of lamb and pavlova was on the menu as was roasted squash (the very last) and amazing maple syrup pies.

“New Year’s Eve was celebrated [with] a plethora of appetizers. . . . The tapas-themed meal segued into a comfortable evening counting down to 2012. All hands made it to midnight but retired shortly thereafter, rising somewhat later than usual on New Year’s Day to spectacular light and clear weather bringing in the new year.”

For more on Yukimarimo, visit http://homepage3.nifty.com/takaokameda/index.html)

Tumbled snow or Yukimarimo at Summit Station, Greenland. Photo: Shannon Coykendall

Comments (1) Jan 02 2012

 Frosty Freeze

The walk back from the atmospheric watch building seems a bit longer on cold winter days. From this point of view, Summit Station's science and operations building nudges the iconic Big House, with its roof-perched radome and welcoming porch light. Photo: Shannon Coykendall

We were glad to read that cold north winds, which for several weeks had been dominating the weather reports from Summit Station, subsided last week. A welcome relief to deep freeze conditions reported earlier. “We hit a wind chill of -107F earlier today and the ambient temperature is around -67F…it doesn’t take much wind to make it bite!”, wrote Shannon Coykendall on 30 November.

The moon rises over a winter storage berm at Summit Station. Photo: Shannon Coykendall

In addition to bringing the cold, north winds can blow exhaust from station generators into the pristine sampling zone. Ongoing atmospheric and snow chemistry measurements are impacted when the station’s emissions mix into the signal. So, during periods when the winds blow from the north, station personnel avoid activities that create exhaust.

Twice during late November and early December, the staff had to fire heavy equipment to collect snow to resupply the station’s water supply during north wind conditions. Each time, the science technicians followed protocol and notified the research community.

Heavy equipment stored outside at Summit Station in Greenland gets a nice layer of frost. Photo: Shannon Coykendall

Finally, last week, “Summit crawled out from underneath the north winds that have dominated the past few weeks. Bringing clouds and warmer weather, the southerlies created an opportune chance to catch up on making water and for the science techs to perform their non-north wind tasking,” wrote station manager Ben Toth. “The winds also gained strength this week, reaching sustained speeds of 15.5 knots. Temperatures this week ranged from a low of -60 C on Tuesday to a high of a balmy -34 C on Saturday.”–Kip Rithner

Comments (4) Dec 15 2011

Halloween 2011 at Summit Station, Greenland

On the floor, from left: Sonja Wolter, Ben Toth, and Brad Halter. Next level up on the couches from the left: Christina Hammock, Tommy Cox, Lance Roth, Ken Keenan, Russ Howes, Ed Stockard, Katrine Gorham and Tracy Sheeley. Standing from the left: Shannon Coykendall and Ben Buchwald.

The team halted turnover activities temporarily last night at Summit Station to celebrate Halloween, and as the pictures attest, folks were clearly in the mood for a costume party. “We dined on a lovely Halloween themed-meal, complete with pumpkin ghoulash and mashed potatoes with sculpted ghosts,” wrote Tracy Sheeley, Summit manager of operations.  “Quite a celebration!”

Those who’ve enjoyed reports of optical phenomenon at Summit during the early winter phase might note that CPS science technician Christina Hammock (far left) is dressed up as a sun dog.

“Everything is going smoothly for turnover,” Tracy wrote. “We got in one day late due to weather, but are moving through everything steadily.  Temps are chilly (-55F/-48C, windchill – 93F/-69C, as I type) with 16kt winds. Great group of people for both phases.”

CH2M HILL Polar Services operates Summit Station, near the highest point on Greenland’s ice sheet, for the U.S. National Science Foundation, which manages the station in cooperation with the Government of Greenland. Summit houses instruments that provide year-round, long-term measurements for monitoring and investigations of the Arctic environment.  The station is open by invitation to visiting scientists during the summer, and is accessible via ski-equipped airplane and tracked vehicle. During the winter period, which lasts from September through early April, the station is closed; but a team of five maintains the station and its ongoing experiments. CPS breaks this winter period into three, roughly 10-week phases, and conducts resupply and intense training activities during staff turnover between each period.

“If all goes to plan, we will send Phase I out on Saturday and Russ (Howes, CPS’ Greenland maintenance manager) and I out on Sunday.” wrote Tracy. Good luck to the incoming Phase II team, and thanks and warm wishes–literally–to the outgoing Phase I team.–Kip Rithner

Comments (0) Nov 01 2011

Katrine Gorham sends the following words and pictures from Summit:

Turnover here at Summit has pretty much come to a close. For the last five days we have been waiting on the Twin Otter to come pick us up… weather delays. I have attached a few pictures from the science tech turnover, in case you are interested in adding something to the blog. The new techs are lookin’ good.

Phase III techs getting ready for snow sampling, Patty Sanders (left) and Adam Maerz (right). This was taken on our first good day after several days of high winds. We had a major wind event with sustained wind speeds up to 55 knots. Photo: Katrine Gorham

In this picture Shannon Coykendall (phase II tech, right) is training Patty Sanders (phase III tech, left) on record keeping for NOAA at the Temporary Atmospheric Watch Observatory (TAWO). Photo: Katrine Gorham

In this picture the phase II techs are training the phase III techs on Swiss Tower instrumentation. From left to right, Adam Maerz (phase III, NOAA), Ben Gross (phase II, NOAA), Shannon Coykendall (phase II, CPS), and Patty Sanders (phase III, CPS). Photo: Katrine Gorham

In this picture Lance Roth (ICECAPS tech, phase II) is giving Dave Denny a tour of the Mobile Science Facility. As the picture shows, the MSF has drifted significantly over the last several months. Phase II was characterized by high winds and drifting snow, which is common for mid-winter at Summit. Photo: Katrine Gorham

Comments (0) Feb 16 2011

Summit Station, January 2011

Summit Station's Big House against a dawn-streaked sky. Photo: Ben Toth

Well I’m a little down under, but I’m feeling O.K.
Got a little lost along the way

I’m just around the corner to the light of day
Well, I’m just around the corner to the light of day

Bruce Springsteen, “Light of Day,” 1993

Summit Station flags. Photo: Ben Toth

Comments (0) Jan 20 2011

The Summit crew would like to wish everyone a happy holiday! Thanks for all of the support you give and the opportunity for us to have a VERY white Christmas, indeed.

Comments (0) Dec 27 2010

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NOAA Science Technician Ben Gross dusts rime (delicate build-up of frozen water droplets) from instruments mounted on the atmospheric watch tower. Photo: Ben Toth

“The emotional and tear-streaked departure of the Phase I crew was tempered somewhat by the arrival of a cornucopia of freshies,” joked new Phase II station manager Ben Toth in this week’s report from Summit Station.

Ben’s referencing the 9 November exit of the Phase I winter team. They departed on the same plane that brought fresh fruits and veggies to the research outpost managed by the U.S. National Science Foundation in cooperation with the government of Greenland.  

The week since has seen the Phase II team—science technicians Ben Gross, Shannon Coykendall, and Lance Roth; mechanic Don Kirkpatrick; and Ben Toth—settle in to the routine tasks associated with keeping the small research station running smoothly. While the science technicians monitor, sample, measure and report to PIs for the host of experiments running year-round, Kirkpatrick and Toth melt snow for the team’s water supply, conduct maintenance on generators and other station equipment, complete inventories of gear and supplies, and take care of whatever may arise due to the ice sheet’s ferocious winter conditions.  Last week, one such unplanned activity was the building of an improvised cover for the “freshie shack,” which got a little too cold for comfort during a recent blow. Ben reported that, except for some lettuce that wilted in the cold, the “tough little soldiers” survived the event.

Chuckle if you like, but when the nearest grocery store is about three months away, people tend to think of fresh (and fresh-ish) fruits and veggies with a certain fondness. Which is not to say the “tough little soldiers” will be spared when the time comes, of course.

Besides settling in to the phase, our team said goodbye to “a fog-veiled sun,”  as Toth described it, on Saturday, 13 November, at 14:55 (2:55 p.m.) Western Greenland Time (WGT). “[We] will start working on our tans on (I think) January 29th at 11:06 WGT,” he continued. Meanwhile, the group is enjoying another kind of light–the greens, blues, and purples of the aurora borealis, that is. Stay tuned for more from the world’s roof in upcoming posts.–Kip Rithner

Nightie-night. Last sunset of 2010 at Summit Station, Greenland, 13 November. Photo: Ben Toth

Comments (0) Nov 17 2010