4 June, 2000

dawson journal 06/04/00

The thermocouples were all neatly arranged in order. The data reader was all primed to take temperatures. The test was here-did I put the supporting rods on correctly? Was the silicon coating too thick? Did

I wire them correctly into the box? By immersing the tips of each of my manufactured thermocouples into a bath of snow and water, which should cause them to read 0 C, I would determine if they were

properly made. This process is called calibration. One by one, I recorded the data until they were all done. I showed the results to Dr. Mary Albert and the look of extreme pleasure and surprise on her face were the reward for a perfect set of thermocouples. After calibration, I further prepared them for the field by placing them in plastic bags, having number tagged them yesterday.

Sunny-foggy-sunny-windy-nasty-cold-calm-warmer: the weather was all over the place today. It did permit the blimp to fly today, though.

It was an interesting sight to see a small white blimp with blue fins flying over the Greenland ice sheet. We've ended up with -12 C and only 10 knots of wind tonight (10:30 pm). Great conditions. It should be less ...er...'inspiring' to change from my day clothes to night wear tonight. Besides being warmer and calmer, I sewed up the seam

rip in my tent (there is an over-cover, so I wasn't personally exposed). An earlier occupant had put duct tape over the 8 inch opening, but that gave up when the temperatures went down and the

snow started to blow. I had to stick a mitten in it to keep my tent from filling up with snow.

Hope it stays warm and calm tomorrow since I'm going to be on a coring team again tomorrow. We'll be using a new electric corer that should be easier and faster.

Warm regards,

Besse Dawson

Blimp flying over the jamesport (Quanset) buildings > <>