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

]

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