Today bolstered the saying of "the difference between a boy and a man is the size of his toys." After a leisurely morning and Saturday brunch, we headed over to the airport to see the takeoff of NASA's SIERRA (Sensor Integrated Environmental Remote Research Aircraft). As I mentioned earlier, NASA deploys the UAV to look at sea ice thickness and roughness. We learned a bit about how the aircraft operates and the instruments, which include down-pointing and side-pointing lasers and a humidity detector. It took a couple of hours for the airplane to take off, so we hung out on the runway getting cold from a strong wind. Some of us (Julie and Laura P) tried to stay warm by dancing the macarena.
SIERRA UAV
The SIERRA is remotely-controlled during takeoff, but once in the air the flight pattern is automatic and follows a path set in Google Earth.
SIERRA in the far distance during takeoff
After the takeoff, we hiked over to a glacier where Mike Hambrey is working at the moment. To get there, we hiked up several ice-cored moraines and several streams. During this adventure, I discovered that Muck Boots are probably the best invention that man ever made.
Theo is amazed by his muck boots...they even keep you warm in glacial stream water!
We saw some pretty interesting glacial features around the glacier, including stone circles and upwelling subglacial water. Stone circles form as a result of the freeze-thaw cycle in the active layer above permafrost. As the active layer cools and warms, convection occurs which sorts the sediments based on size.
Julie provides a scale for the stone circles (also known as patterned ground).
englacial water upwelling
supraglacial stream
looking up glacier
Tonight is the one night of the week that the bar is open. Each week a different scientists serves as the bartender--this week it is someone from NASA. Now I'm off to dinner and then to the bar!
No comments:
Post a Comment