6 August, 2002

A beautiful day in Fairbanks.......

The smoke that had darkened the sky yesterday was gone this morning. Winds last night blew it away, and left the skies clear. Išve heard horror stories about mosquitos here, but we encountered no problems with them at all.

We headed to Fort Wainwright early this morning and marked out several lines for the collection of seismic data. The focus of this study is to locate the depth to bedrock in an area called Birch Hill. This is an area where several huge tanks are located that used to store aviation fuel. There are concerns that some of this fuel has leaked into the soil. With a picture of the underlying bedrock, prudent measures can be taken to expedite the cleanup.

Dr. Baker and I also collected some GPR data at the base of Birch Hill. We are attempting to locate the depth to permafrost. Permafrost is permanently frozen ground that occurs at depths below the surface. This permafrost layer will influence how ground water flows, and an understanding of the location of this layer will aid decision making regarding appropriate cleanup procedures.

Tomorrow morning, Dr. Baker and I will be parcticipating in a webcast for next seasons TEA parcticipants. They are currently at an orientation at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, NH. After the webcast, we will be driving back to the Matanuska Glacier to continue our work there.

Life Is Good,

DT