8 August, 2001

Hello from the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboraotry (CRREL)! Orientation is going well. The directors of the facility gave all 20 new TEA's a tour today. The buildings stand in a field surrounded by the mountains of the Upper Connecticut River Valley. As we stood in the lobby, I wondered what really goes on here. In the Ice Engineering Facility they conduct experiments that find solutions to problems created by ice in the United States during the Winter. Next, I saw the Test Basin and Geophysical Research Facility where the experiments are conducted. The Test Basin looked like a paved road inside of this huge warehouse. The Geophysical Research Facility looked just like a swimming pool! It was hot outside, but when I stepped through the largest refrigerator door I have ever seen into the "cold room," I was not sure I really wanted to go in there. It is -25°C. Ice cores from the Greenland Summit are kept there. It was so cold you could smell it. Have you ever been in an environment so cold you could smell the cold? Tomorrow I will learn how to put the images from my tour into my journal. I hope you will check them out.