Leaving Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse

Hello friends and family!!! 
     I miss you all so much!  Seriously, the continental U.S. has never felt so far away--like it's on another planet or something. I finally have a morning to myself and (after sleeping a really long time and having a slow breakfast) am so happy to get to update you all with pictures from my continuing Alaskan fieldwork adventure.  I'm at the Toolik Field Station now but just have to share some of the amazing views we saw on the southbound drive from Prudhoe Bay, but first, a few last pics from Deadhorse, John, and me too :)


    My team collected 3 solid days worth of measurements on greenhouse gas flux at the air-sea interface on the Beaufort Sea and Harrison Bay.  We had fairly calm seas, I didn't get sea sick, and we saw a polar bear!!  The captain is hopefully going to send me a good photo he got with his zoom camera lens.  We sighted the bear on Thetis Island (really a sandbar) where we had anchored overnight right after I stumbled grogglily up the stairs into our kitchen/living room/laboratory on the first morning of the cruise. The bear definietly smelled the bacon that John P was cooking for breakfast!!  He perked up his nose and starting looking around curiously.  Needless to say, we peaced out pretty quick.  I loved my first research cruise!  It is really hard work, but thrilling all the same.


       After a full morning of de-rigging and unloading our bulky equipment from our little (55ft) boat on Friday, we drove our full-to-the-brim flatbed truck to the Aurora Hotel!  I had multiple hot showers, drank lots of hot tea, ate lots of fruits, veggies, and cereal, ran on the treadmill and watched movies in their snazzy fitness room, and took full advantage of the automated and complimentary laundry machines.


Showered and wearing freshly laundered clothing!

 We rented a truck in Prudhoe to drive our gear down to Toolik Lake, where our next research awaited us.  We'll be driving it back on Saturday evening and flying out of the Deadhorse terminal on Sunday a.m.

John and our red pickup truck in front of the Aurora

A perfect pic for an essay titled, My Visit to an Arctic Oilfield!

 Ironically, it took us forever to get gas in preparation for our drive to Toolik.  We drove around for an hour before we found the general store where we could get a gas can and before we found one of the few inconspicuous filling stations in "town." (Deadhorse cannot really be called a town..no cafes, restarurants, stoplights, paved roads, houses..just a lot of impermanent housing, trucks, and behometh oil structures).

Lovely sign, right?

Finally found a gas pump!!

 We were finally ready to head south for Toolik, which I was really looking forward to!

Not a great picture of The Greater White-Fronted Goose

Great colors on the tundra, with a backdrop of industry

A flock of Cackling Geese--they are smaller than Canada Geese, which are not found here

Arriving at the top of the world, 70*N

After a hairy morning at the Fairbanks airport (5am combined with tons of heavy equipment and confusing mixed messages about getting them checked into to the cargo hold), John K, John P, Casey and I arrived in a place unlike any other on Earth--Prudhoe Bay.
We congregated outside the tiny terminal with our equipment and waited for some USGS scientists to come pick us up.

The airport had a nice cafe--a soda machine--so I grabbed a cherry coke while we waited..and waited..

Casey and I keeping an eye on our gear.

We finally got driving towards dock 21. It was a long, slow drive, about 40 mins. Really interesting landscape!!

State fair in alaska

Hello hello!
Short day in the lab today--the 4 of us(me, John K (my advisor) John P, and Casey) began packing up our machines and equipment at 8am in the UAF lab and were out by 10:30am. After that we picked up identical pairs neoprene gloves at a sports store and 2 bottles of DEET (yikes!). We will fly out of Fairbanks tomorrow for the desolate town of Deadhorse. Our flight is at 7:45am and we'll need to get our things at the lab and then be at the airport at 5:45 to check our things into the cargo hold. Bedtime is fast approaching!! I'm so excited to head out for the field!! We'll be on a 55ft boat for 3 days out on the Beaufort Sea. The 4 of us plus another USGS guy named Chuck and the boat captain will all share some pretty cramped quarters but gosh I couldnt be more thrilled! I mean, seriously, this king size bed I'm in now at the Hampton Inn is just too much ;). I'll enjoy it while it lasts..but I'm really really looking forward to being out on the water!! Plus, I'm getting along really well with John P and Casey, who is my age and really really nice!
The Johns had important research proposal work to do, so Casey and I took the shopping list for the crusie that our USGS coordinator had sent. There is this giant supermarket called Fred Mayer here, and thats where we went..Casey is lots of fun to shop with and I got to pick out my fav things for snackage: Ezekiel bread, natural peanut butter, brown rice cakes, and Ak-mak crackers. John P needed a mouse pad, too, and we got him one with a kitten on it :p.
There was a Coldstone in the shopping center so we went there afterwards! There arent many recognizable chains here so we were surprised. I was successful in recreating Ben & Jerry's chunky monkey witha choice of banana ice cream, walnuts, and chocolate chips while Casey played it safe and went with the oh-so traditonal combinatioj of mojito sorbet with chocolate chips and rainbow sprinkles. Did I mention I like this kid?
But I save the best for last!! I was kinds iffy on going, but Casey was so for it that I said sure...We went to the fairbanks fair! It was so great!! After screaming our heads off, we completely forgot about CRDSs and valve sequences and calibration methods! Actually, Casey laughs instead of screaming like I do..the highlight was a bungee slingshot ride we impulsively looked at each other, said YES! and plunked down cash for...oHMAN biggest thrill Ive ever gotten I think..So glad I took off my glasses and flip flops because we were flipped upside down several times as we were slingshotted into the big blue Alaskan sky..Watching the footage afterwards from the video camera attached to us was so funny!
Well, wish me luck out at sea and I'll blog as soon as I have internet later this week :)

saturday afternoon in Fairbanks

John P suggested a thai place in town for us to eat lunch at!! Bless him. Hes been to Fairbanks several times and has an arsenal of good lil places to eat. Lemongrass Thai had a great menu! This was my tofu salad with shredded ginger, cashews, and a warm, spicy ginger dressing.

Upon the first bite of this soup, I said, ohmyGah, so good I have to take a picture. After several spoonfuls, I pronounced with 99 percent confidence it was the best cup of soup I'd ever had the pleasure of eating. Dramatic, maybe..true story though!! It was a warm coconut milk soup that tasted tangy like yogurt (because of the whole sprigs of lemongrass in it I think, perfectly cooked brocolli, cauliflower, and zucchini, raw carrot, one slice of a really flavorful root vegetable, bamboo shoots, and green onion....totally masterful.

John and I hope this contrail is not indicative of a plane crash!! but thats what it looked like!!

We went to dinner at a UAF prof's log cabin!! Best time eva!! We picked fresh raspberries for dessert!!

Fairbanks, 10:30-11:30pm

The building on Univ Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)'s campus where John and I, alongside our partners, John P from USGS Woods Hole and Casey, an intern at USGS from Stanford, have been working to get our instruments calibrated in.

UAF campus

Happy, tired team: and I in the parking lot where we park our rental Prius.

Driving out of the town to get dinner and drinks. It was very impressive being out at 11pm and drivin alongside these massive hills as the sun set behind them. We glimpsed a mama moose and her calf who were getting a drink at a karst lake!!

The Ivory Jack--great food and drink and many local Alaskans were there. A note on their decor--the owner has an obvious affection for both Elvis and The Yankees.

fairbanks!!

I'm in Fairbanks, Alaska!! It was a huge 50 deg temperature swing for John and me. I LOVE it here! So so different!!! I will write more about these pics tonight I hope if we get done working at a decent hour! Yesterday we picked up our gear from FedEx easily enough in 3 trips back and forth from the University. I had to run back to the hotel during that for more clothing round 1. We ate lunch at a cafe above a used bookstore by campus which endearingly had free coffee and nice ceramic mugs. At 1:30 we were back in the lab and we didnt stop working til 10:15!!!! I had to run back to the hotel again at 7:30 for more clothing because even indoors I was getting super chilly; I was still wearing shorts and being hungry for several hours just doesnt jive with my system! Once I'd gotten my long underwear on and 2 jackets, and eaten some oatmeal and a protein bar, I was back in business! But we were encountering a lot of difficulties with our calibration and stayed real late! But when we left the building it was still very light out!! Craaaazy! We went to a really cool lodge/ bar for a much needed hangout and meal--i had Twisted IPA on draught, pizza, and salad. We got back at 2am amd are leaving the hotel at 7:45...Just woke up from a short sleep but I feel refreshed and ready to go back at it!!

Best City Ever

So I ventured to Austin this weekend and I'm SO So glad I did!! I had 2nd thoughts about making the trip just a few days before my journey to Alaska, but ohMan! Becoming introduced to this city has changed my whole view of living in TX! Basically I'm like a million times more stoked to be here. Austin is an easy 2 hr drive from my house and it is the city of my dreams. No its not portland, or SanFran, but maybe those are too well known for their coolness. Austin is known for being 'weird' which is fine and dandy but I have some other adjectives to add.
Classy high-rise filled

So this building, right on the water and incredibly awesome Hike&Bike path, is where I stayed for my 1st trip to Austin! It will be hard to top in subsequent visits! Cara, my new german friend, and i couchsurfed and were lucky enough to be hosted by a really cool couple who started an impressive, up-and-coming green business, re:char. They took us out and introduced us to the nitelife on friday evening and i had an excellent microbrew IPA at a bar called lovejoys. On Saturday, they gave us directions to cool things and made a special trip to give us the keys to their flat when we were up on the roof of the bldg-- where there was a suh-weet pool!! On sunday morning, they invited us to brunch with a couple of their friends @ moonshine, which just happens to have been recently voted Best Sunday Brunch by the Austin chronicle. It was rad, i tell ya. And to top it off, one of their friend's paid for everybody's brunch with a giftcard she had!
Healthy

In a state where the Fresh! Green! Active! scene is not really catching on like it is in other places, Austin bucks the trend. This is a shot of a juice place where a bunch of cool kids (people of all ages) were chilling outside, sippin fresh juice. You just dont see that happenin in College Station. Not a chance. But here, greeness was bursting at the seams. I
never couldve imagined that a city and a lush river ecosystem could jive so well together!
Well, i could imagine it, but wouldnt believe it actually existed!! There were multiple
pedestrian bridges crossing the big river and an amazing trail on both banks, which I
tooootally took advantage of on Saturday a.m. It was the run of my life! There were SO many
beautiful people out, all running like they were being chased! There were very few people
walking..and just hundreds and hundreds of runners of all ages and one fitness level: Fit!!
It was like incredibly exciting for me. I just ran along a took it all in, grinning the whole time Im pretty sure. I made myself turn around after 3 miles because I knew I'd be walking a lot later, and that it'd be HOT out. At 7:30, in the shade of all the cottonwoods and bald cypresses on the trail it was not uncomfortable at all, but later Im sure it heated up to 103 degs!
Flat out gorgeous

The river is right in the thick of things and the sky is just so BiG in Texas! Austin cant help but be gorgeous. And I think its just the right size--not too big and uet you definitely still get the city feeling, even though you simultaneously feel like you're in a nat'l park or something!
Wild and Cool

This pool was incredible!! I took this photo looking upstream so you can see the pool in its entirety..and yes i did say upstream! Its a stream-fed pool and its icy cool! like 65 F i heard a lifeguard say. And its teeming with life! The bottom is very natural: a thick covering of vegetation--not sure on specifics as I didnt have my snorkle gear like another girl did. A lot of vegetation is floating on the top of the pool too. This place is a total enigma to me still--i dont quite understand how its still so nice with all the use it geys and how you go about containing a rushing, wild stream in 4 long concrete walls. However they did it, Im so happy the Barton Springs pool was created! I will be back again and again.

And a shot from whole foods!! More in an upcoming post. oh man. Austin is home to the
mothership of WHole Foods bc the this was where the lil company got its start as I understand it. This shot is of the beer cooler within the gigantic beer& wine section.

I enjoyed the wine tasting area and met some other nice enthusiastic-WF citizens.

Dont go "ghetto" w/ Hazmat

Its lunch break here at school and my pb sandwich is toassssstin! Whilst I munch on my celery & carrot sticks, I wanted to update on my week!

We spent the first part of the week running preliminary experiments (think tap water and laboratory air, and gas standards) with our instruments that just finished getting assembled to see how they're working and make adjustments if possible. On Wednesday I started packing up all the lab equipment into crates and finished with this yesterday. Yesterday afternoon our whole lab went into Ship It Out mode to get our 8 large heavy cases down to the loading docks and strap everything to pallets. This morning we packed away our Hazmat gas cylinders.
This is a pretty good story..Eric was de-icing our mini fridge yesterday around lunchtime and accidentally hit the cooling agent cylinder with his screwdriver/ice pick and gas went flying out..the fridge was totally broken. So anyway, he went out and got a new one last night and so this morning, there was an empty new fridge box in our lab.

It must have been too early in the morning, b/c John had a pretty terrible idea this morning that I should pack up the 4 heavy gas cylinders we are shipping as Hazmat in the fridge box! He gave me some soft sheets of foam and told me to just be crrative, yada yada. I thought hazmat must not be too big a deal or something. I didn't realize it was doomed to begin with until he came to check on my handiwork and realized the cardboard was way to flimsy for those heavy 2000 psi tanks. When I stepped away from it, I saw that the loads duct tape I deemed necessary for reinforcement combined with pictures on the box of glasses of juice and people eating cheesecake made the box look..anything but serious. And John admitted that Hazmat should not look like a joke. Within an hour, our great lab fam had remedied the situation and placed the cylinders horizontally in a large plastic cooler, lined snugly with thick styrofoam blocks. Ready to go!! John started singing a Spinners song about a ghetto child while we re-packaged.

Everything will be picked up in a few hours and FedExed to Fairbanks, arriving a few hours before John and I do next Thurs.

School day

I head to campus between 8 and 9 a.m. It's a 3 mi ride to my building, which is on the very east edge of campus.  There are literally a 100+ buildings behind the two that you can see in this pic!!  At 15-stories, my building is the tallest building on campus and has a Doppler radar system on the roof, which I have yet to observe up close.

That's my lighthouse!  jk, but it IS my building.  I'm on the 9th floor.  I really like this road that leads me on to campus.

Once I lock up my bike, I hit the stairs.

  184 of them.  (I didn't count them all, just calculated).

At anytime, I LOVE a coffee break!!

    So the good news as of today is that our machine is all built!!  Now we just have to get it to work.  The bottom two shelves house the Cavity Ring Down Spectrometer, which analyzes gas using lasers and highly reflective mirrors, and its computer hardware; The next shelf up has a ton of impt. stuff secured onto it for intaking the air and gas from seawater; the top shelf has a built in monitor and keyboard. Our gas needs to be really dry for analysis, so out front there is a canister of silica gel we will connect w/ tubing for drying the samples, attached to the left and right sides of the front frame are water condensers filled with glass beads, and on the back frames, we attached nafion dryers.

The intense reality is that we have to get it properly working and ready to ship to AK this Thursday!!

Close up of the 2nd shelf

Birds eye of  2nd shelf.  I actually took out the green and black round things (back pressure regulators) and replaced them with smaller, more efficient ones that arrived later in the afternoon.

Looking head on at the Stream-select valve and the side of the 2-position valve

 For those of you non-electrically-inclined people, here's something you can relate to:  lunch break!

I love toasting my pb sandwich at lunchtime.

This pb is pretty boss!  I like smuckers too.

 After lunch, which I take for at least half an hour, it's back to the lab(s) for more work on the machine.  I learn a lot everyday and get better with the tools for steel tubing cutting and cleaning, wire stripping & crimping.  I am beginning to recognize nuts with their corresponding wrench size; and the trickiest things are the fittings: Swagelock and Valco ones for tight seals on our tubing.  Anyhow, by the time the AC starts to give me chills, I know its getting about time for me to leave!  Between 6 and 7 p.m., I make my exit.  The woman I'm working with in the mornings is an early-to-work person and doesn't like it when I'm late by her schedge, and my advisor, who has a lot to show me in the afternoons, is a hard-working, late-to-leave kinda guy. Long days, but whatevs--Alaska is on the horizon!

Stoked to leave at the end of a day

 Now I want to share a bit of what the TAMU campus looks like, because I'm awed by it.  I'm making the pictures X-large because these buildings are freaking huge!

The football stadium from the outside

And apparently....

This is what the stadium looks like on Game Day.  Capacity is 83,002 I believe.

View from the stadium looking towards the Rec.  The buildings aren't the only big things--big skies here.

The Texas A&M Rec Center. So far, I've been swimming in the Olympic (50 m) pool inside and took a dip in the hot tub.