Kara and I arrived in Antarctica a little more than a week ago. As of today, I have now spent more than an entire year of my life, spread over 15 trips starting with my first one in 1994, in Antarctica. For this blog post I am going to share some memories and photos from… Read More
After a 2 week delay Kara and I finally made it to Antarctica on Friday September 5th. On Thursday we received an e-mail from the US Antarctic Program telling us that we were scheduled to fly south the following day and that we needed to get to the Christchurch airport by 6:45AM Friday morning. Once… Read More
I left Colorado 2 weeks ago and I am still in Christchurch, New Zealand waiting for my flight to Antarctica. As I said in my last post, the plan was that Kara, the post-doc that I am working with on this trip, and I would spend three nights in Christchurch before flying to Antarctica on… Read More
I am currently in Christchurch, New Zealand the main gateway for US Antarctic Program participants heading to Antarctica. The reason for Christchurch being the primary gateway to Antarctic is that it is directly north of McMurdo Station, the largest US base in Antarctica, and thus offers the shortest travel distance from a major city to… Read More
I left for my 15th trip to Antarctica today (August 17th) and I have pretty mixed emotions about it. On one hand I am very excited to be going to Antarctica again and getting to see and experience an environment that is so different from my everyday life. I feel so fortunate that my career… Read More
As I mentioned in my last blog post, plans were being made for a flight that would allow several people on the Polarstern to return home. That flight took place last Wednesday (22 April) and I was one of the seven people on that flight. Prior to my flight home, and since my last blog… Read More
12 April 2020 I always experience a rollercoaster of emotions when I am doing fieldwork. Frustration when things aren’t going well. Boredom waiting for good weather, or just getting to the field site. Loneliness from being away from family and friends. Contentment when you experience the beauty and unique nature of a remote field camp.… Read More
31 March 2020 It took us much longer than we had expected, but last Monday (23 March) Gina and I did our first DataHawk drone flights of the MOSAiC expedition. These were also the first scientific drone flights of MOSAiC. The data that we collect as we fly our DataHawks will allow us to study how the atmosphere… Read More
19 March 2020 After more than 20 years of doing polar fieldwork one thing I have learned is that delays are an inevitable part of any field campaign. That seems to be truer than ever with my MOSAiC work so far. First, our transit from Norway to the Polarstern, on the Russian icebreaker Dranitsyn, took… Read More
10 March 2020 It’s been a week since I moved onto the Polarstern and it has been a busy week. The Dranitsyn arrived at the MOSAiC ice floe on February 28th and the next 4 days were occupied with the transfer between the leg 2 scientists that had been on the Polarstern since December, and… Read More
