24 November, 1996

November 24th, 1996

Trying Things Out

Today was frustrating. It was gorgeous in the morning so we were all ready with the apparatus we designed. However the features weren't what we were expecting at all. The features were irregular and it was very difficult to get a grasp on what we should measure. After blundering about a bit we came to terms with our (revised) project goals. This is an important part of the scientific processes, refining techniques, but it can be frustrating. During this time Suruj and Dr. Braaten were doing the traverse, taking snow core samples every 50 meters for two kilometers. These core samples will then be cut up and melted in the lab, looking for the microspheres.

Later we talked over the project with Dr. Braaten and formulated a new plan. However the weather got cloudy and windy and we had to quit taking pictures. We lost good "definition", that is the ability to see the snow surface clearly. Here there is so much ambient light that, when there is no direct sun, everything looks the same shade of gray. There is no shadow anywhere. It is a little like twilight. So as you walk, you trip over dunes that you can't see. It looks perfectly flat.

We helped finish taking ice cores before we started dinner. Amazing! I thought it was around 6:00 PM instead it was nearly 9:00. We had lobster tails for dinner. Really nice. We then turned in around midnight.