Ok, so I lied. You're going to have to wait until next week to get my last post about my trip home. Dad and I booked a flight to North Carolina for today, and I'm currently writing this from our hotel in the True "down south".
Not related to Alert whatsoever.....but I GET TO SEE TIGER ON FRIDAY!!! Unbeknownst to Dad and I, we booked our trip and then realized that Tiger was going to be playing in the PGA event just 20 minutes away (he's not likely staying at our hotel :P ). So, we're going to go see him. That can cross one item off my "List of Golf Things To Do Before I Die": Watch/Hear/Feel Tiger Woods crush a drive.
Graham
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Graham Pope is in Waterloo
Well, I'm home. Interesting trip to say the least. I'll put up a post about it likely tomorrow (make that today :S ) with some pictures, but let's say that the highlight was drinking in Greenland at noon, then Yellowknife at Midnight :)
Graham
Graham
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Well....
Isn't that a funny coincidence. Talking to the CO about the rumor that Todd started, and the PA goes off that the flight is delayed an indeterminate time due to mechanical failure.....so yeah.
On the bright side, I'll get one more chance tomorrow night to win Pool :)
Graham
On the bright side, I'll get one more chance tomorrow night to win Pool :)
Graham
Leaving Alert...wait, No, wait, Yes
Ok, so I was all set to put up a nice, sentimental post about leaving Alert and how much fun I had on my last day here. Here's a funny story instead:
Lunch time. I go up to the Chief Clerk, guy named Todd. He's in charge of the planes and bookings and such. "So Todd, where's the plane at?" Todd freaks. He's been having a busy day, and there are 20 people calling and dropping by every 15 minutes asking him the same question that he doesn't know the answer to yet. I apologize, and move on with my meal, making a mental note to ask the Met Tech later on about the flight.
Hour and a half later. Adrienne has me run down to the MIR to get some medical supplies. I pass Todd in the Linkway. Remembering lunch, I bite my tongue and don't mention the plane at all....which is why I knew it was bad when he was like, "24 hours man". "Really Todd? 24 hour delay? Wind in Iqaluit?" (I'd been watching the weather and Iqaluit was blustery). "Yeah Graham, sorry." Graham: "Ahh, no worries, it's Alert, right?" And we both head off. I'm bummed, but it wasn't unexpected.
20 minutes later. Todd on the PA: "Attention attention all station personnel. Please get all luggage to the HAPS Ramp immediately." Now, luggage was supposed to be there an hour ago, so I figure, "Hah, that Todd...playing a trick on Graham. The plane is actually doing fine!!" So, I call him up, with every expectation that as soon as he hears my voice he'll break out laughing at the great joke he pulled on Gullible Graham....not so. He calmly explains to me that 24 hours isn't enough time to get our luggage back, and that the traffic techs need to pack the pallet up to load onto the plane. "I'm sorry man, but it's 24 hours. Nothing I can do". **Sigh** "I know it's not your fault, Todd. Just was hoping that you were joking with me, thanks" That's right...I THANKED him!
1.5 hours later. Page on the PA: "Attention attention all station personnel. Would all personel leaving on Service Flight 86 departing tomorrow please ensure that their B25 kit is at....." At this point I will NOT quote the expletive that I used to describe Todd and his cruel, cruel "joke" that he played on trusting, old Graham. Needless to say, I refrained from calling him the second time...because I would probably be able to hear the strains of his laughter drifting through station all the way from my office.
Well played Todd. Well played.
The horrible irony is....the flight might still ACTUALLY be delayed due to wind :)
Really excited to visit Iqaluit, and then eventually get home. Loved my time up here, will most likely be back, but it'll be nice to see the sun go down (literally and figuratively) on this adventure. Thanks for all your support and comments, they helped me stay [relatively] sane up here.
Graham
Lunch time. I go up to the Chief Clerk, guy named Todd. He's in charge of the planes and bookings and such. "So Todd, where's the plane at?" Todd freaks. He's been having a busy day, and there are 20 people calling and dropping by every 15 minutes asking him the same question that he doesn't know the answer to yet. I apologize, and move on with my meal, making a mental note to ask the Met Tech later on about the flight.
Hour and a half later. Adrienne has me run down to the MIR to get some medical supplies. I pass Todd in the Linkway. Remembering lunch, I bite my tongue and don't mention the plane at all....which is why I knew it was bad when he was like, "24 hours man". "Really Todd? 24 hour delay? Wind in Iqaluit?" (I'd been watching the weather and Iqaluit was blustery). "Yeah Graham, sorry." Graham: "Ahh, no worries, it's Alert, right?" And we both head off. I'm bummed, but it wasn't unexpected.
20 minutes later. Todd on the PA: "Attention attention all station personnel. Please get all luggage to the HAPS Ramp immediately." Now, luggage was supposed to be there an hour ago, so I figure, "Hah, that Todd...playing a trick on Graham. The plane is actually doing fine!!" So, I call him up, with every expectation that as soon as he hears my voice he'll break out laughing at the great joke he pulled on Gullible Graham....not so. He calmly explains to me that 24 hours isn't enough time to get our luggage back, and that the traffic techs need to pack the pallet up to load onto the plane. "I'm sorry man, but it's 24 hours. Nothing I can do". **Sigh** "I know it's not your fault, Todd. Just was hoping that you were joking with me, thanks" That's right...I THANKED him!
1.5 hours later. Page on the PA: "Attention attention all station personnel. Would all personel leaving on Service Flight 86 departing tomorrow please ensure that their B25 kit is at....." At this point I will NOT quote the expletive that I used to describe Todd and his cruel, cruel "joke" that he played on trusting, old Graham. Needless to say, I refrained from calling him the second time...because I would probably be able to hear the strains of his laughter drifting through station all the way from my office.
Well played Todd. Well played.
The horrible irony is....the flight might still ACTUALLY be delayed due to wind :)
Really excited to visit Iqaluit, and then eventually get home. Loved my time up here, will most likely be back, but it'll be nice to see the sun go down (literally and figuratively) on this adventure. Thanks for all your support and comments, they helped me stay [relatively] sane up here.
Graham
Monday, April 13, 2009
Road....well, Sky Trip!!
This weekend I was able to go on one cool trip. As some of you might know, on Thursday a group of 8 people from both Canada and Germany flew into Alert in a DC3 from Greenland (originally from Germany). Today they continued on to Eureka to the south, and their eventual destination is in Alaska. They are doing IPY (International Polar Year) research...everything from measuring aerosols to solar radiation to ice thickness. Their plane is basically our lab with wings.
Anyways, on Saturday, their engineer didn't need to fly along on their daily excursion, so the seat was tossed to their hosts...Adrienne and myself. Adrienne was super nice enough (THANKS ADRIENNE!!) to let me go along, as long as I took lots of pictures and filled her in on the details.
We took off and started with doing spirals at 500 foot intervals over the station to do some radiometry work. Below is a picture of station that I captured. It's not the best, because they were using the lab and the station as their baseline, so we were always right over them, but it was still fun to see from the air. I also got a picture of the same hills that I've been putting up all winter with the sun....but from a slightly different vantage point!
We then flew WAAAY West to the western edge of Ellesmere Island. That in itself isn't too cool, but what WAS cool is that we did it at about 200 feet above the ice dangling "the Bird" below us at about 50 feet off the ice measuring thickness. I got some great video that shows the ice just rushing past.
We then came back East, and flew over Ward Hunt, a camp that's even more North than us (although not permanant) and got some more pictures. Finally came back to the Station and got some other pictures of a Twin Otter that had just landed.
I'm leaving in a week and a half now, so there will likely be only a few more Alert posts. I'm anxiously awaiting the golf season...but I'm really sad to leave,
Graham
Anyways, on Saturday, their engineer didn't need to fly along on their daily excursion, so the seat was tossed to their hosts...Adrienne and myself. Adrienne was super nice enough (THANKS ADRIENNE!!) to let me go along, as long as I took lots of pictures and filled her in on the details.
We took off and started with doing spirals at 500 foot intervals over the station to do some radiometry work. Below is a picture of station that I captured. It's not the best, because they were using the lab and the station as their baseline, so we were always right over them, but it was still fun to see from the air. I also got a picture of the same hills that I've been putting up all winter with the sun....but from a slightly different vantage point!
We then flew WAAAY West to the western edge of Ellesmere Island. That in itself isn't too cool, but what WAS cool is that we did it at about 200 feet above the ice dangling "the Bird" below us at about 50 feet off the ice measuring thickness. I got some great video that shows the ice just rushing past.We then came back East, and flew over Ward Hunt, a camp that's even more North than us (although not permanant) and got some more pictures. Finally came back to the Station and got some other pictures of a Twin Otter that had just landed.
I'm leaving in a week and a half now, so there will likely be only a few more Alert posts. I'm anxiously awaiting the golf season...but I'm really sad to leave,Graham
Monday, April 6, 2009
Pop Quiz!
Which of these is a polar bear?
(A)
(B)
If you answered B, then you're a winner, and smarter then an Ice Shelf scientist today who saw a "bear" which turned out to be a wolf. I mean, come on...4 foot at the shoulder, 1500 pound bear versus a mangy grey wolf? How do you screw that up. Still, there was some excitement for the afternoon while the gun team was scrambled and such.
Mom: I'm tired enough that my sleep hasn't been affected at all. It was easy to sleep in the dark, and odd working (but I didn't feel tired at noon when it was pitch black out). Now, it feels normal during the day, and I'm tired enough at night that sleeping is a breeze. We have shutters on all the windows, so your room is dark enough to get a good rest. If I keep having more bar extensions until 12:30 (like last night when I was bar tending) then I'll definitely have no trouble sleeping...it'll be getting up that's the problem :)
Graham
(A)
(B)
If you answered B, then you're a winner, and smarter then an Ice Shelf scientist today who saw a "bear" which turned out to be a wolf. I mean, come on...4 foot at the shoulder, 1500 pound bear versus a mangy grey wolf? How do you screw that up. Still, there was some excitement for the afternoon while the gun team was scrambled and such.
Mom: I'm tired enough that my sleep hasn't been affected at all. It was easy to sleep in the dark, and odd working (but I didn't feel tired at noon when it was pitch black out). Now, it feels normal during the day, and I'm tired enough at night that sleeping is a breeze. We have shutters on all the windows, so your room is dark enough to get a good rest. If I keep having more bar extensions until 12:30 (like last night when I was bar tending) then I'll definitely have no trouble sleeping...it'll be getting up that's the problem :)
Graham
Sunday, April 5, 2009
The last solar frontier
In my 3 months up here so far, I’ve experienced several types of sky conditions: 24 hours of pitch-black, midnight darkness (Jan 6 to mid-Feb), a gradual daily transition of increasing twilight (mid-Feb to Mar 1), the first sunrise in 150-odd days (Mar 1) and increasing daylight hours (Mar 1 to present). Now, tonight is going to be the last special event that I need to witness. April 5th is the last night that the sun will go below the horizon. At approximately 11:15pm tonight, the sun will rise for the last time until mid-September…24 hour daylight. I took the picture below last night on my way home from the bar at 12:30 (i.e. after sunrise). It is WAY too easy to lose track of how late it is when at midnight it looks like a nice 7pm sunset down south.
I thought that I’d throw in some more pictures of the lab for you to see. One thing about the snow up here, although there isn’t much of it, it moves around. Total, we’ve only gotten 60cm of snow all winter (60cm = ~60mm of water = well below the standard definition of a desert), and the average snow cover up here is in the mid-30cm’s. Due to the low, low temperature though, there is no liquid water in the snow pack to hold anything together. With the high winds, the snow is pushed around (in a process called saltation, for you physical Geography folks out there) and gets packed tightly enough that it almost feels like concrete. It also forms drifts around basically everything. The pictures below don’t do it justice, but one is taken from the roof of the lab, and the other is taken from true ground level looking up. The drift is about 25 feet high!
I’m also taking some time out of my day now to run some high-tech scientific experiments…..ok, maybe not. I’m running the time honoured “Does it break when you freeze water in it?” experiment. I’ve got a pretty big freezer to work with, and at -35 things freeze pretty quickly. My most fun one yet was a 20ml scintillation vial that exploded in 8 minutes :)
