Notes from the Field

Gathered in Greenland, Prepared for Field Work

March 30th, 2015 by Olivia Miller, University of Utah
The team getting on our C-130 flight to Greenland.  From left to right: Clem, Josh, Lynn, Kip and Olivia.

The team getting on our C-130 flight to Greenland. From left to right: Clem, Josh, Lynn, Kip and Olivia.

We made it to Greenland! On Thursday, Kip and I flew from Salt Lake City, Lora flew from Denver, Clement flew from Seattle, Lynn flew from DC, Josh flew from Madison, and we all met up in Clifton Park, NY. Only one bag was lost and later found, and one flight canceled. Although we have all been working together to prepare for this work, I hadn’t met most of the team face to face. I finally got to put faces to the voices I had come to know from weekly teleconferences over the past six months. I was also lucky enough to have some family who lives outside Albany come visit and bring me a care package of goodies.

Lora reading on a cold flight over to Greenland.

Lora reading on a cold flight over to Greenland.

Olivia and Lynn excited to go to Greenland for the first time.

Olivia and Lynn excited to go to Greenland for the first time.

One of our first views as we flew into Greenland.

One of our first views as we flew into Greenland.

Friday was a long day. The Air National Guard picked us up from our hotel at 5 a.m. for our flight aboard a C-130 to Kangerlussuaq. We piled into the belly of the plane, sitting on webbing seats and peering out tiny windows as the North American continent slowly transitioned from forested land to tundra to open ocean to sea ice and finally to the glacially carved fjords and ice covered mountains of Greenland. As we approached our destination, the flight crew even let us go up into the cockpit. They had an impressive view!

A view of the town of Kangerlussuaq.

A view of the town of Kangerlussuaq.

The Kangerlussuaq International Science Support building.  Our home for the next few days.

The Kangerlussuaq International Science Support building. Our home for the next few days.

Upon arrival, we were taken to the Kangerlussuaq International Science Support (KISS) base, where we stayed last night. After settling into our rooms we went through training on snowmobiles and how all of our communication devices work. Much of our field work will involve snowmobiles. We have personal locator beacons in case of an emergency and all kinds of radios to talk with helicopter pilots and each other, as well as several satellite phones. We also got to see all 80 boxes of science equipment that had been loaded onto pallets for us. We have so much equipment because we are conducting a variety of different kinds of studies this year (hydrology, ice coring, seismic, radar, and magnetic resonance) and each study requires a lot of different equipment.

Today, Saturday, we prepared for our last airplane flight to Kulusuk. The flight was scheduled for 10:15 so we happily got to sleep in a bit and catch up on some much needed sleep. For breakfast we headed to the cafeteria in the airport and made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some perishable food to bring into the field with us. Our flight was delayed a bit so we went to lunch at the Pizza-Thai–Grill restaurant in town.

Unfortunately we just found out that our flight been pushed back to tomorrow, so for now, we get to catch up on some work and spend a little time exploring the town.

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One Response to “Gathered in Greenland, Prepared for Field Work”

  1. Michelle and Gary Coyne says:

    Glad to hear you made it safely to Greenland. It was so nice to meet the team before you left on this great expedition and we look forward to reading the updates! The weather report for Kulusuk is saying 33 mph winds — hang on!!