15 August, 1997

August 15, 1997

Great day today again! We had an early breakfast and set out into the oil fields to measure the active layer at the plots near Betty Pingo. When we arrived the sites and duties were split up with Jerry and Jeremy probing the 1 x 1 km plot and Anna and I picking up loggers, down loading data from the loggers, changing batteries, relaunching the loggers, sealing up the loggers and probing the 100 x 100 m plots. We finished just after noon and started back to S. A. 10 for lunch. We didn't make it in time for lunch because we encountered an arctic fox that seemed to be willing to pose for an unlimited number of photos. By the time we left the fox we had taken nearly 40 pictures between 5 cameras.

The photo session resulted in a late arrival for lunch. This is not really an inconvenience but the fancy meal service is over at a set time and if you want to eat you just grab a sandwich from the cooler. After our late lunch we took Jerry to the airport to catch his plane and checked our reservations for tomorrow.

In the evening Jeremy, Anna and I took the opportunity to visit West Dock up on the Arctic Ocean. The ice pack was visible on the horizon but it was not close. The distance explained why we have seen no bears. They tend to come ashore when the wind blows the pack ice in to the shore. On the way back from the ocean we got caught in a sudden shower and managed to get some great photos of rainbows.

Tomorrow we pack up and head for Barrow so I'll call it a day now.