We’re getting ready to leave in two days.  Been making the final decisions and cleaning up for longer term operations.  This is a collage view of the inside and outside of the MSF with all instruments installed and labeled.  Everything is up and running now except the PAERI, which will be operational in a few… Read More

On June 3 we had a visit at Summit from a group of important people for the activities here. Simon Stephenson (Director of the Division of Arctic Sciences at NSF) and Laurie Fulton (US Ambassador to Denmark) were in attendance and made it out to the Mobile Science Facility to get a quick rundown of… Read More

The ICECAPS install team (Duane, Mike, Ryan, Erik, Matt, Brad, Chris) soaking up the rays on the deck at the Mobile Science Facility on a beautiful day at Summit.  That is the look of success…. most instruments are up and running.  The two that are not yet are in the works.  Now we are cleaning… Read More

Fog has occurred almost daily at Summit since we’ve been here, typically in the “evening” as the sun gets lower in the sky (it never actually sets right now, just dips down to a few degrees above the horizon).  As the sun goes down, the surface cools, as does the atmospheric boundary layer, leading to… Read More

With most of our instruments now installed, we’ve focused on the details….  Tuning up the instruments, making them all talk with each other via the network, moving data files around and making sure they are archived, and evaluating data quality.  Two days ago we had an ICECAPS team meeting and starting putting together a list… Read More

We’ve had some success lately at getting our instruments up and running.  When the carpenters finished their work, we moved in our boxes (probably 40 of them) and exploded them all over the space.  It was a bit chaotic for a few days, but then started developing into a nice observatory.  A sampling of our… Read More

The pathway from MSF back towards the Big House.  That’s where we go for excellent food (thanks Rosemary!), entertainment, toothbrushes, and friendly smiles.  Speaking of the food, I’m astounded at how well we eat here.  Fresh food comes in with many of the airplanes, and there is a great system in place for storage of… Read More

Today the “traverse” arrived…  a month’s journey from Thule over the ice sheet to Summit.  They brought fuel (much more efficiently than with aircraft) and supplies.  The Case pulled most of the weight, while the Tucker pulled living quarters for the crew and some supplies, while it also pushed a downward-looking, ice penetrating radar.  These… Read More

Last night we sent up our first radiosonde balloon, starting our twice daily radiosonde program. We send these up for a few reasons.  First, we need to have information on the thermodynamic structure of the atmosphere to complement many of our other measurements in order to derive certain cloud and atmospheric properties.  Second, thermodynamic profiles… Read More

Today as we began to install our equipment in the Mobile Science Facility, a fog bank rolled in.  We watched it approach from the distance, engulf the Big House, and then eventually make it to us.  It left its signature on many surfaces including this rope: feather-like ice crystals that result from riming on the… Read More