| Hi,
my name is Geno. I became interested in going to Alaska when the idea
first arose in my science class. I think that it is important that research
in the Arctic is going on. Not only do forces such as global warming affect
Alaska, but they also influence the world as a whole. Meeting Uma Bhatt
will help us answer some of the questions we have, which will allow us
to have a great understanding of it. The Arctic is only one piece of the
puzzle, but can provide many answers for us. I'm excited to be able to
apply our current knowledge on heat flux in a real world application.
Measuring heat flow with Dr. Martin Jeffries will also be an invaluable
experience, and ties to what we have been learning about in class. Another
thing I can't wait to observe is the aurora. After watching the videos
in class about it, it will be a great thing to meet the aurora expert,
Neal Brown, and to see the aurora in person. |
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| Sunday,
February 20 2005 At 10:00 today we went out to brunch and after that we stopped at a coffee. We then headed to Fred Meyers, the very big grocery store. When we got back we just unloaded our groceries and put them away, then we went to the geophysical institute to get our clothes. We also, at that time, got the laptops to work on the school’s wireless network. After that everyone went off and did their own things, such as going jogging. |
| Monday,
February 21, 2005 Today began with a trip to the permafrost tunnel. Before entering it, Matthew Sturm gave us a brief intro to it. Kindly, he let us all hold 40,000-year-old mammoth bones! Upon entering the tunnel itself we had to crawl through an interesting cooler. The reason it was so interesting is that unique ice crystals had formed on the walls and ceiling due to escaping moisture in the tunnel. The tunnel, although not too long, was packed with things such as bones, rocks, frozen mosses, and roots. In some places where the tunnel wasn’t as tall, we had to take special care not to disturb the roots and moss hanging from the ceiling. It was very cool to see the frozen lake us above us, just as it was when it had initially frozen. For the ground coving, it was silt that had been dehydrated and was rather dusty. After leaving the tunnel, with a souvenir rock, we got to interview Matthew Sturm. We learned things such as how plant growth affects the albedo and light absorption in the arctic tundra. Later we headed to Aurora Pond back in Fairbanks to take some snow and ice measurements. Josh had to leave before we began because he broke his finger in the car door upon arriving. After learning the proper way to make the readings, we recorded the snow depth and temperature at the ice, for every marker on the lake. We also learned how to correctly take snow samples. Before leaving, Dr. Jeffries showed us how to find the ice depth by drilling a hole in the ice. After that, we headed over to Deb’s house where we found the mass and density of our snow samples and were able to enter our data into the computers. |
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| Tuesday, February 22, 2005 This morning we left the house at around 8:30 and came to the Geophysical Institute. We began with a tour of G.I. building, along with the I.A.R.C. building. We came back to our office and watched a power point presentation by Dr. Jeffries. It began by describing the two different types of lake ice: snow ice, and congelation ice. Snow is white ice that is formed when the snow weighs down the ice and becomes submerged. Then the snow submerged in water and freezes. Congelation ice is referred to as ‘black ice’ and is formed when water freezes onto the bottom of the ice. We also were taught that factors that determine the weather/climate are precipitation, humidity, wind, and barometric pressure. Going along with what we did with aurora pond yesterday, the way to determine conductive heat flow through ice is to use snow and measure the depth, temperature (on the top and bottom, and density. Using the temperatures and depth, we can find the temperature gradient. Using density, we can find the thermal conductivity, or how well/poorly a material conducts heat. By multiplying the temperature gradient and thermal conductivity we get the conductive heat flow and ice thickness. Next, we had the opportunity to interview climatologist Uma Bhatt. Some of the factors that go into making a climate model; wind, pressure, and thermodynamics. Some skills needed are math, and as much math as you can take is helpful; and communication is also important, such as when you need to collaborate with other team members to make a successful project. Some models can take around 3 or 4 years to complete. It usually takes 5 to 6 months to complete an experiment, which is, for example, changing the sea ice in a model, and noting the differences, then trying to figure out what the reasons are for those differences. To test the model, climatologists use calculations as a control group, where they know what the result should be, so they can therefore tell whether the model works. Some good points about being a climatologist are figuring out the problems, and having the satisfaction once you have solved them. Some bad points are securing funding for projects. A project usually begins with making plans, which will in most cases change as the project goes on; organize; gather calculations, such as averages, anomalies, statistics, and plots; take good notes; and revise, which is referred to as polishing. People such as Uma decide whom to work with by a couple criteria. First is how useful the individual would be to the project, depending on their expertise. Second is communication, there needs to be good communication because some times you may not even be working in the same state as your colleague. A third criteria is trust, which is important because you don’t want any one individual running away with your project and publishing it as their own. Last, but not least, we interview Martin Truffer, a glacier physicist. Some facts we learned were that there are an unknown number of glaciers in Alaska, although there may be around 10,000. Currently, glaciers are melting at a rate of two meters per year. The water that has melted in the last 50 years, had accumulated, could cover the state of Texas by 50 meters. Some secondary effects of all this water running off the glaciers is that Alaska is actually lifting off the tectonic plate. At a rate of 1-½ inches per year, Alaska is slowing lifting off because the weight of the glaciers just isn’t there. The biggest glacier presently known in Alaska is 2 miles deep. Sometimes glaciers can break off the land and become icebergs. Depending on their size, they can last from days, up to years. Mostly, you can only see about 1/10 of the whole iceberg. One of the biggest producers of icebergs is Greenland. In Greenland, the ice flow off glaciers is seven kilometers per year, and it has been doubling. Some technology that glacier physicists use are: measuring the angle of a target on the glacier to tell how fast it’s moving, or they can use GPS or lasers; to track glacial changes they can use an aircraft with laser or radar remote sensing; they also use radar to measure the ice thickness. Some information that can be gathered from glaciers are how old they are, because the layers of snow and ice build up. Also you can tell what was in the atmosphere, such as pollen or carbon. Also you can tell temperature or volcanic layers. Other info includes facts about the climate. This information isn’t always accurate though, because if melting occurs it will be impossible to tell how old the glacier is. So to date glaciers that way, people such as Martin Truffer would prefer to find places with no melting. |
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| Wednesday,
February 23 2005 Today we were able to interview Neal Brown while at Poker Flat Research Range. Poker Flat is the only university owned rocket range and has had over 300 launches. Most of the launches have been the Geophysical Institute experiments. Before being built, the U.S. had planned to use rocket ranges in Canada and Greenland, but after having problems in Greenland, they decided it would be better to build a place on U.S. property. The rockets make measurements of things happening in the aurora. They have sensors inside and out side of the rockets to make measurements. Also, doors can open to take samples of the number of protons and neutrons. They also measure the magnetic field given off by the aurora. Less then 3% of the aurora’s energy is light. The range is tracking the rockets at all times and know its position within one meter. The university makes the inside instruments; NASA makes the outer shell, radio transmitter, and batteries. Inside the payload assembly building there are no rocket engines, although they are making the payload. Inside the building there can be no static electricity, so the technicians have to wear special shirts with wiring through them, and then they must clip it to metal to ground themselves. For any project there can be as many as 120 people working on it. NASA must approve most projects for funding. It is usually a three-year process for the projects. In the first year they must write a proposal, in the second they build the payload, and in the third they publish their results. At the launch pad, rockets are stored in a Styrofoam box, which it later breaks out of, to be kept warm. They reach the aurora in about one minute and a small rocket has the average life of four minutes while a larger one can be up to a half hour. The launch pads numbered three and four are big buildings, so the rocket is kept warm, and are resting on railroad tracks so when it is time for the launch, the building can be moved. The flight plan for the rockets is published in newspaper one year to prior to the launch, and airports are also notified about it. Neal Brown began his career being interested in radio and electronics so he took electrical engineering. After finding out he didn’t like that too much he switched to physics. After completing that, he went to work at NASA and became interested in the aurora. He then ran Poker Flat for 18 years. He had the choice to name it Poker Flat Rocket Range or Poker Flat Research Range, but chose “Research” because he knew lots more could be done then just rocketry. The Neal Brown Road was an unexpected gift. The reason they had to name the road is because incase of emergencies, all access roads and repeated name roads had to be re/named. Without consulting him, the staff at Poker Flat made it a gift, and named it Neal Brown Road. |
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Saturday- “A walk in the park”
Denali National Park, site of North America’s tallest mountain
at Denali
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