This past week was a productive one for our NGEE Arctic
team in Barrow. July is a busy month for us with more than 20 scientists,
staff, and students working at our field sites on the Barrow Environmental
Observatory (BEO) and to the south across a series of drained thaw lake basins.
The weather was good early in the week, but it turned foggy with a light rain
especially in the last few days. As the winds died down and air
temperatures rose, the mosquitoes came out with a vengeance. Deet and bug
jackets were definitely required if you were going to make working in the field
bearable.
Although the weather could have been better, this was the
week that several NASA program office staff would visit Barrow. I picked up Peter,
Dan, Libby, and Leanne, as well as University of Maryland professor Eric
Kasischke from the airport on Monday morning. They had traveled to Barrow in
order to familiarize themselves with tundra ecosystems of the North Slope of
Alaska. They also wanted to see first hand the many scientific facilities in
town and to visit with UMIAQ, the logistical provider who supports our NGEE
Arctic project.
We spent two days touring the Department of Energy,
Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) climate research facility; the NOAA
CMDL facility; the Barrow Arctic Research Center; and the BEO where we and
others have field research sites. This gave Peter, Eric, and others a good
overview of the long-term monitoring activities in Barrow and the types of
science being conducted at these facilities and the BEO. My thanks to everyone
who helped make our discussions productive, especially Karl, Eric, Jon, Brower,
Laci, Araina, and Uinniq, all from UMIAQ. And my thanks to Walter and Marty for
tours of the ARM and NOAA facilities, respectively. Despite the hordes of
mosquitoes, it was a good visit...one that was both enjoyable and met
the goals of the trip.
