16 November 2009

After one day's weather delay the Twin Otter was able to land at Summit on Wednesday despite very cold temperatures. The ground turnaround was accomplished in approximately 45 minutes and the departing Phase II crew along with Kathy Young and Russ Howes of PFS and Jacques Hueber from the Univ. of Colorado were on their way to warmer climes. The Phase II crew is starting to settle into their new surroundings and responsibilities; a large part of this is becoming familiar with where things can be found. This week provided a clear horizon on 14 November for our last official sunrise/sunset until 29 January 2010, though we still have several hours of usable daylight for outdoor activities.

09 November 2009

The Phase II crew along with Kathy Young and Russ Howes of PFS and Jacques Hueber from the Univ. of Colorado finally arrived at Summit Station on Tuesday 3 November after a 4 day weather delay in Kangerlussuaq. The station was in good shape and the remainder of the week was spent on orientation, training, and turnover activities. Science Technician Katie Koster will stay on from Phase I through Phase II, providing some much-appreciated continuity and institutional memory.

02 November 2009

The mid-winter crew along with Russ and Kathy are on their way to Summit. Jacques Hueber from the University of Colorado joined the group in Kanger and will be coming to Summit for the turnover. The Summit flight was scheduled for Friday, but a storm at Summit delayed the turnover arrival until at least Monday. As I write, the warm temperatures in Kanger are a concern for the Monday flight. At Summit things have continued as usual with the addition of preparations for seven guests. Everything has been cleaned and organized. We are all taking care of those last minute items, and generating lists and schedules for the upcoming training sessions. The next week will be a busy one.

26 October 2009

The week passed quickly with most of the activity involving getting ready for mid-winter. Aside from the usual science activities, most of the action was in the shop. Our little plumbing repair job turned into practice for the next plumbing job. And the next one… The techs seem to be having great fun ferrying gas cylinders around as a form of exercise. For Johan in particular, pulling a sled with a 130lb cylinder is a way to vent frustration after what happened to his beloved Red Sox.

12 October 2009

We now begin the final push to the end of Phase 1 at Summit. So far time has passed quickly with all the small projects that have come up. We know that the final weeks can go fast so we had better get going on scheduled projects, and be aware something else will surely distract us. With the exception of Katie, who has opted to stay for the mid phase, most of us are starting to think about our travel in November. At least two of us will be heading to Antarctica, but not until some thawing has occurred.

05 October 2009

We are now within one month of the crew turnover for Phase II. This means we transition from working hard preparing the station for the colder times ahead to working hard preparing the station for the next crew. Everyone is keeping busy either with the routine tasking or the little things that come up every day. Now that we are in October we thought it was important to celebrate Oktoberfest. Saturday we had to endure polka music while Brad and Sandra cooked up several German dishes, including soft pretzels and desert.

28 September 2009

We experienced our coldest temperatures so far this winter. At the same time we were trying to work and sleep as the pressure altitude was as high as 11800ft. The north winds this week gave us some new drifts, and allowed us to find some new air leaks to seal up. The science technicians were busy this week. Katie spent some time on the Flux tower this week troubleshooting a heating problem with one of the instruments. Unfortunately jobs like this rarely occur during nice warm weather. At least the sun was out giving her a nice view of the station.

14 September 2009

We have one more week until the equinox, and each night is darker than the last. The good weather is behind us. We can now really say summer is over and we are experiencing the Greenland winter. With no moon over the next week we should see our first auroras. We worked really hard at the beginning of the week to get the place buttoned up for the first storm. With the Greenhouse, new Shop, and Bighouse well elevated, the two days of high winds had little effect. We are seeing our first drifts, but very little yard work had to be done around the buildings, and the doors remained clear with the exception of the North side of the Greenhouse, Flux entrance and the freezer, which are requiring daily digging.

08 September 2009

We have continued our winterization of Summit this week with every flag line and bamboo pole we could find being raised. All the science areas and normal travel routes now have fresh flags. The science techs were also busy raising the accumulation study lines. Everyone wanted to experience the joy of pulling up bamboo.

The days are getting shorter and the nights colder. As expected, we have some maintenance issues to deal with. There is something about -40 degrees. It is the temperature where people get uncomfortable, and things made by people begin to fail.

Now that we are done with the beginning of season tasking, we are all ready to tackle the usual winter challenges. As I write this, the first storm of the winter might be coming in after one of the longest periods of good weather we have ever seen at Summit.

31 August 2009

The focus of this first week of winter was to do as much as possible outside while the weather was good. The final pallets of cargo were put on the berm, and the old shop became storage for the extra snow machines and other vehicles. The last bit of D-6 work was completed so the science techs could do a survey before the drifting starts.

Within minutes of the last plane leaving, the extra tables were moved out of the Bighouse to make room for the exercise equipment, and the vacuum was running in the Greenhouse. We managed to stretch the leftover food for nearly the entire week before cooking for ourselves. In the coming week we should be into a routine, but there are still many outside tasks to complete. The days are noticeably shorter and everyone is excited about combination of twilight color and night sky.

17 August 2009

The construction crew hosted a wonderful end of the season dinner party in the Rec port. It was a great way to end a very busy week. We are all hustling this week to complete all the projects before the last flight of the season on Friday. It has been a huge year with all the projects the construction crew had to tackle. Camp is looking really good. Of course there will be some projects left for the winter crews to finish. This has been a really challenging season for all of us.

I, Kathy, will leave this season with sifting through all the challenges and taking with me what matters most. That is, Summit’s great people that make working here so special and the beauty that holds solace in my heart. This will be my last weekly this summer. Andy Clarke will be taking over as the new CH2MHILL Manager Phase 1 winter.

10 August 2009

This has been another full week at Summit with flights and incoming folks. The winter over crew arrived this week except for Andy who will arrive on the 18th. Lana started training this week with Katie and Johan. I have been working with Sandra who is new to Summit.

Brad and Geoff have worked all week with the winter over cargo berm. Pallets have already been placed on the berm for the long winter. Due to the big construction year the berm will be fuller than most winters.

Jeff Servinghaus project is moving right along. They are working in two shifts now in hopes of finishing up their work by the 17th. So far all the equipment is working well. They will be hosting a gathering this week so folks can get a tour of their equipment and learn about their research.

We still have lots to do before we wrap up the season and it feels bit over whelming at times. It’s great to have the help of Tracy, Russ and Larry here. This week we are preparing for incoming folks on the 18th and preparing pallets of cargo to send out. Along with a million other things we have left to do this season.

28 July 2009

The work has been steady throughout camp. We meet weekly as a community to discuss the work and this has proven to be a useful tool. It brings the construction crew and staff together once a week to discuss work as well as any issues in camp. I think at this point we are little over whelmed with the work left to do this season. Little by little it will get done I am sure. We spent the week preparing for the incoming wave of folks and preparing lots of cargo to leave camp. A week of North winds slowed the operations down some.

20 July 2009

Folks enjoyed a well deserved two day weekend after a full week with the Science Education Week and all the construction work completed this week. We gave recognition to all for a safe season thus far and added that as we go into our last month we need to stay alert to our overall energy levels and guard against dangerous fatigue.

13 July 2009

Science and Education is a favorite week at Summit. This year we had an exceptional group of students and teachers. The students were very eager to learn about Summit station and more about the research at Summit.

We had a variety of activities set up for the students so they could get some hands on learning with the science and sampling here. The snow lit pit was a highlight. Steve took a small group down into the pit and discussed the layers of the snow and methods of sampling. Lana had the other half of the group and they dressed in the Tyvek suits to do some real time sampling for the researchers. Along with the snow sampling the groups learned about snow density.

Students got a tour of all the science at Summit. Louisa and Brie were kind enough to give a short presentation and then hands on experience out at the Flux facility which they enjoyed. Another highlight for the students was taking them out on snow machines away from the camp and away from their teachers. They really enjoyed getting away from the camp to experience the great nothingness of the white landscape.

Evening presentations were given by each student/teacher group. Henning Thing gave a great presentation on the history of the IPY years. It was a successful 4 days filled with new experiences for both teachers and students. The group had an extra day in camp due to bad weather and flight cancellation which they seemed to fill with fun activities on their own.

06 July 2009

We had another busy week up at Summit. The construction crew managed to complete the move of the Greenhouse this week with the help of the operators. It took a lot of team work to make this happen. The construction crew and operators worked late Wednesday to complete the move which proved to be the right decision as the winds picked up on Thursday morning. The crew also moved the main generators out of the shop to their new location in the old DISC tent. We are running off the 70 KW generators now and drawing our water from this snow melter.

With the weather forecast calling for a storm we wanted to get the last bladder from the old fuel pits dug up and placed into the new containment before the winds blew. On Tuesday Kathy started digging on the bladder and continued through the night with the help of Steve. The next day we shoveled for another hour and then with the help of Willow and the operators we pulled it out. We spent a couple hours digging out the new containment before we could set in the bladder. We completed the project just in time before the winds really started to blow. Unfortunately, we will be digging out that bladder once again when it is time to fill it up. I will not put my fuel digging shovel away until all four bladders are full of fuel this summer.

The stormy week has really made a mess out of our landscape here. Brad has quite a bit of work ahead of him this week. Those 25-30kt winds swirled around for 4 days creating mounds of drift everywhere. We cross our fingers that our forecast is right and we get a break from these winds.

The entire camp took advantage of the holiday to rest after a big work week to recharge our batteries. We want to be fully rested for the Science Education and DV week ahead.

29 June 2009

The week started with a Tuesday flight when 11 folks departed from Summit. After our population dropped we started with the camp move. This week the Berthing module and Balloon barn were moved. It took the help of the entire camp to help with the success of these moves. Summit is quickly taking on a new look. This week we are moving the Green house. The power will be switched to the 75 KW generators as well this week. Geoff and I have informed folks that the word of the week is Flexible.

24 June 2009

Louisa Kramer, Laurens Ganzeveld, and Claudia Toro, all part of the Honrath/Helming Project, were part of the ninteen new folks at Summit this week. The week was busy preparing for, and installing, them into camp. This included turn-over meetings for the cooks, mechanics, and cargo operators, plus five new carpenters and three new staff members.

Nick Rakovec, a student from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and part of the UW-Madison Clean Snowmobile Team, joined us to help troubleshoot some porblems on their electric snomobile here in camp, as well as create some helpful user documentation. We continue to fine great use for their electric snowmobile hauling cargo into and out of the Clean Air Sector.

Summit is looking at some busy weeks ahead with the move of the Greenhouse and the Berthing module to bring these structure back to grade. They are being re-located to be in line with the Big House in order to minimize snow drifting in the future.

15 June 2009

This week we concentrated on helping the research group in camp. Staff helped with Trine Dahl Jensen's group when they were in camp Monday-Thursday.

We had a couple of North wind days this week accompanied with winds up to 25kts, blowing snow and poor visibility on Wednesday. On Sunday, the medic finished up with the 16 hour first aid class. This will re-certify those that are Wilderness First Responders as well as those who hold a Wilderness First Aid certification.

08 June 2009

One of the highlights this week was seeing the Peregrine falcon fly in camp. The other highlight was a presentation from Hans Thybo about the work he will be conducting out of Summit with Trine Dahl Jensen. Our main focus this week was flight operations and assisting the researchers in camp. Due to the stormy weather this week, some of the camp projects were canceled.

Camp staff helped the Max DOAS group this week to get their instrument off the GH roof and pack up their boxes. Camp staff helped Detlev dig around the tower and help raise his instrument, Commander made a box to put at the base of the Flux tower that will house all the wires that come out of the Arctic pipe

01 June 2009

The electric snow machine once again is proving to be a great machine able to pull full sleds of cargo, pictured here.

This week we assisted the groups in camp and made preparations for the incoming science groups. We had the pleasure of two science presentations this week one from Koni and the other from Crispin and Fabien.

We had much excitement for the Royal visit and did our best to have camp nice and tidy. It was disappointing to us when the weather came in and no flights that day. We had all 5 flags displayed in honor of our guests. The winds blew all day on Sunday and instead of showing off our station, folks took the afternoon off.

25 May 2009

This week a lot of team work went into several projects at Summit, one of which was digging out two fuel bladders. Camp staff excavated the bladders that had about five feet of snow on top of them from the winter. We now have three bladders in place in the new location and are ready to take on fuel.

The other big projects accomplished this week included lowering 24 gas cylinders down into the Flux building and driving out to the BAS site to deliver fuel and supplies.

18 May 2009

The plateau decided to blow again this week which shut down some projects for a few days both operationally and with science.

However, just before the storm the Meijer group was able to get to their site and drill the shallow cores they wanted. The days of bad weather they worked down in the food freezer trench cutting their core and then eventually melting it and storing it in small tubes.

Jerugen with the Potsdam group was delayed with his work here at camp due to the winds. However on Saturday the weather cleared and with the help of the techs and construction crew, he was able to complete his work.

The BAS group took off on Sunday after taking a few days in camp to organize their gear and do a bit of testing of their equipment. The weather is in their favor at the moment with this high pressure over the area.

4 May 2009

Camp staff and the construction team continue to work getting camp ready for that busy week in May when researchers will start arriving for their field season.

We had a strange flight week at Summit. We found nothing normal about it. On Wednesday we were to have a flight to take 8 passengers back to Kanger. Wednesday through Saturday the weather was not on our side. Nor was the fact that our ski way is not yet certified. The challenging flight week ended on a positive note when the passengers flew back to New York with the Guard, finally.

1 May 2009

This last week was the second of a back-to-back flight period for the NYANG here in Greenland. Flights included missions to Summit, NEEM, Camp Raven, and Alert in support of the Switchyard project.

The NEEM deep ice core drilling camp operated by Centre for Ice & Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen received their put-in flight on the scheduled day of Tuesday.

26 April 2009

This week was the put-in week for Camp Raven and Summit Camp summer opening. There were some delays this week due to poor weather but in the end the five scheduled flights for Raven and two Summit flights were completed.

The Fahnestock research team departed Kanger for Scotia on Fridays southbound rotator. Unfortunately since their arrival on 14-April the twin otter did not fly in support of their project due to poor weather, mechanical issues with the twin otter and one other circumstance that required the aircraft to be pulled and used to support another unexpected incident. Despite not being able to accomplish any science during this deployment to Greenland the team was understanding about these unfortunate circumstances that were out of their control. They now intend to return in 2010 for another attempt to complete this portion of their project.

The Koni Steffen research team had several days of twin otter aircraft mechanical issues and weather related cancellations. Friday was their first twin otter flight which took them to service their northern AWS sights. Also during this flight they stopped at Swiss Camp to drop off some camp supplies to be used this spring. Weather was an issue on Saturday so no flying took place. The weather improved on Sunday and the team flew to service the southern AWS sights. There are two additional southern AWS sites they would like to visit but this will take place after their field season at Swiss Camp. The Swiss camp put-in flight is schedule for Monday of next week.

The CReSIS research team that had been working in east Greenland near Kulusuk arrived in Kanger on Thursday via their chartered Ken Borek twin otter. It took two ferry flights from Kulusuk to bring all of their equipment and research team of four to Kanger. They have one last flight planned to fly out of Kanger that will be between here and Nuuk. Weather was poor in that region on both Friday and Saturday so this flight did not take place. The team will make another attempt to complete this flight early next week. Once this mission is complete they will de-kit the twin otter, pack up their instruments and ship them back to Scotia on 1-May. The Ken Borek twin otter is scheduled to return to Canada on Wednesday of next week.