basagix

The Ups and Downs along the Columbia River

2011-10-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Each spring, as temperatures rise in the mountains, our rivers swell with melting snow. I enjoy watching the water rise while running along the Columbia River and I adjust my course higher on the banks when the water rises.This past season the mountains accumulated higher than average snow that combined with a cool spring, which led to an especially high flow in late May. In early June the river reached flood stage at the USGS gaging station at Vancouver, WA (14144700). I was surprised by the river height and thought back to several months before and remembered running along the beach, far below where the water now occupied. I wanted to somehow capture the seasonal changes. On June 17, 2011 I took photos from four locations in Broughton Park, located along Marine Drive near the Portland International Airport. The USGS gage station along the Columbia River indicated the river was in flood stage at 16.7 ft. The water was flowing swiftly, in places eroding the banks.

As summer passed the mountain snow faded and the river lowered. By September I was running the on the beach again and I decided to rephotograph the river. On September 10, 2011 stage was 2.5 ft. The floating docks and boat house had lowered by 14 feet, the pylons and beaches were revealed, and the steepness of the eroded banks had softened. While none of these were surprises I still find myself examining them, captivated by the fluctuations which take place in just three months.

Daily mean gage height of the Columbia River as recorded by the USGS gaging station at Vancouver, WA (14144700).

Sierra Nevada Repeat Photo Collection Posted

2011-08-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

I have compiled a collection of 28 glacier repeat photographs in the Sierra Nevada. Entitled "High Sierra Glacier Change, A Collection of Repeat Photography: 1883 - 2008", the collection contains historical and repeat photographs collected during my thesis work and thereafter.

The collection can be viewed here (PDF, 15 mb):

I began working on this project in January when time allowed for me to begin pairing photos that I had taken in 2004! The collection is still a work in progress and I welcome any feedback or suggestions.

Storm in the Dry Valleys

2009-11-14T23:22:00.000-08:00

I arrived to Lake Hoare camp a week ago and was surprised by the light dusting of snow on the valley floor. There were also older drifts scattered around camp. Some drifts are > 1 meter thick, a sharp contrast to last season when there was no snow on the valley floor.

We enjoyed a high pressure for a couple of days, temperatures around -10C with sun. Glacier measurements were going well, got about half way through before a low pressure rolled in. The three day storm brought some interesting weather. First, the katabatic winds blew for 30 hours with gusts to 35 knots, removing all recent snow and warming temps to +2C. Then a dusting of snow, more winds, and then woke this morning to 9 cm of snow on the ground. The two no fly days have put me behind on glacier measurements, but hopefully the preparation work I completed allows me catch up over the next couple of weeks.

From Antarctica 2009

The McMurdo record player

2009-11-05T22:46:00.000-08:00

After a smooth C-17 flight I have arrived at McMurdo Station.

From Antarctica 2009

Life is now a combination of briefings and trainings, and pulling, packing, and preparing equipment. All the places and many of the people are exactly the same. Its feels timeless returning year after year. The analogy that I think of is an old record player. At the end of the season, the record player arm moves up. The record keeps spinning and time passes. Then upon one's return the record arm lowers and you pick up right where you left off. or maybe the record player keeps skipping in place...

delayed in Chc and South Shore KAP

2009-11-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

A 430am knock at the door... flight delayed for 24 hrs. Our second delay. I used the first delay to capture some kite photos at the South Shore. The South Shore is located at the end of a long peninsula outside of Christchurch. The spit creates an inland estuary on one side, and the Pacific on the other.

Good conditions, nice steady wind, about 7 to 10 knots. I forgot sunblock and had to wrap jackets around my head and hide under shrubs. I took over 500 images. It is a project to sift through them all, but I am getting better. The steady wind allowed me to capture my first few panorama images:

From KAP

After spending time at the spit I headed over to the estuary where the tide was starting to rise. Beautiful moss on the sand, with very interesting color in the water:

From KAP

dust off the rss feeds, shew the crickets.

2009-10-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Dear all five of my readers,
With about 24 hours of travel since pushing off at PDX, I am back in Christchurch on my way to the ice, season six. psheeew.
sincerely,
basagix

in space

2009-07-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

Talk about some interesting field work, I just found a link to space shuttle radio:

http://www.nasa.gov/178952main_Mission_Audio_UP.asx

It reminds me of trouble shooting Explorer's Cove met station in November in Antarctica, except these guys are weightless, orbiting Earth, and their equipment costs a bit more.

Settled back in sunny Portland, Oregon.

2009-03-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

Africa photos: Safari, Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, and Rhonda's photos too.

2009-01-29T00:48:00.000-08:00

Christchurch, New Zealand... such a wonderful place for re-entry. Adjustments needed for night, green things, traffic, and people are always surprising. Had a relaxing day, despite continued over stimulation. Getting use to the rhythm of the modern world. Tomorrow I head back to the states in one very long day.

The ever present hum of McMurdo

2009-01-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

I have returned to McMurdo (aka town, MCM, mcmurder) to wrap up the season. The tasks at hand are to return issued equipment, have an outbrief meeting, ship items back to the States, and backup all data collected. Showers, soft beds, frosty boy and catching up with folks are the good parts of town. But after being in the field for 12 weeks, town requires some adjustments.
First, there are a lot of people here (hundreds compared to six).
Second, the buildings are overheated and dry.
And most of all there is the ever present hum. 24/7. I recently became curious about the different sources of the hum. Inside buildings the venting systems run continuously. The sound of machines, and computers create a persistent vibration. Outside are all sorts of vehicles, especially large vehicles including huge CATs (loaders, trucks, tractors) , transport vans, and ATVs. I am not sure if others are aware of the hum and i imagine you get use to it. After 3 months of living in the valleys I usually feel ill for the first 24 hours entering town. I think in part sensory overload and part indoor living. It makes me appreciate the good quiet life in the dry valleys. For now, I am looking forward to heading north, hopefuly later this afternoon.

Glacier work completed and KAP

2009-01-23T20:31:00.000-08:00

I am tired, I am weary. The last two weeks have been pretty steady going with our second round of glacier measurements and LiDAR data collection. The melt season has taken its toll on the glacier surface, making travel difficult. The ablation area of Commonwealth was especially treacherous. The cryoconite holes had very thin lids, the near horizontal sun cups were deep, and there were ablation pits and channels of melt up to 1 meter in depth. This mess was covered by 5 cm of fresh snow. Conditions were... challenging, but the work was completed.

On a different note, I have officially entered the world of kite aerial photography (KAP). Air temperatures had cooled off to -4C, but last night a katabatic blew through brought the temperature up to 3 C. After some internal debate whether to fly under such strong and gusty winds, I decided to proceed. My new FlowForm 16 kite shot in the air immediately. The winds were even stronger 100 feet higher. I was excited and decided to proceed by attaching my camera rig to the the line. The kite had no problem lifting the camera, and the line rolled out with ease. I was able to capture a few good shots.

Bringing the kite in proved to be difficult. After a couple hundred feet of line my arms and hands were growing weak and tired. Fortunately Rae came to to assist me bringing the kite in.

2009-01-02T18:25:00.001-08:00

We had a distinguished visitor at Lake Hoare today, Rudolf Schuster, who was the second president of Slovakia. He was very pleasant and had a particular interest in taking photos and video.The sunny warm weather of the past two weeks is taking a break today as a low pressure is forming in the south.

2009-01-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from Lake Hoare! We had a quiet evening here at camp which was quite welcomed. We celebrated the incoming year with a movie and ice cream, and to be totally decadent we left our dirty dishes pile up. Simple pleasures here after a busy week.

I have been steadily working on maintaining our meteorological stations. The LTER has a network of 14 meteorological stations in the Dry Valleys, four of which are located on glaciers. My tasks at each station are to download the past winter's data, troubleshoot any problems, and swap instrumentation that is in need of recalibration.
Maintaining the network gives me the great opportunity to travel through out the Dry Valleys. I posted a few photos from my last trip to the Wright and Victoria Valleys here. There was a moderate katabatic blowing which made flying over the Asgard Range a bit bumpy, but our helicopter pilot Paul navigated us through as smooth as possible. Our slower pace gave me more time to ponder the landscape below. The past week's exceptionally warm weather has swollen the Onyx River and produced runoff from some of the higher elevation glaciers. The streams are running higher than in any of my previous seasons, but no where near the big melt year of 2001. Lake Hoare now has a very large mote and has over taken much of the lower helo pad at the old hut. I am very glad that my work doesn't require me to be on the lake any longer!

2008-12-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

A warm day and clear sky last Monday started off a week of melt. Anderson Creek, next to camp, has been flowing continuously for the past week. The waterfalls off the glacier have begun to flow intermittently, and the lake mote has begun to melt out. All this means it summer time in the Dry Valleys.

I also celebrated my birthday last week. It was a mellow day with nice surprises including fresh scones for breakfast, birthday emails in the inbox, puttanesca pasta for dinner followed by a chocolate cake. I was not up for much celebrating past that as I felt really tired. It turned out that I had come down with the Southern Victorialand Sleeping Sickness (unoffical name). This entails 3 days of sleeping, accompanied by headache. There is not much fighting the sleep, besides making a journey to the hut twice a day to replenish food and water supplies.

Feeling better now, almost back up to full energy levels. Made a trip down Canada Glacier today, sampled some cryoconite holes and retireved some instruments from our cryolake experiment.

On the right is an image of me in my typical summer glacier wear. (Photo by Liz Bagshaw)

the weather

2008-12-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

I keep a daily log of the weather. Each morning around 7am I record sky cover, winds, and temperature. The record helps me later on while processing the meteorological data I collect by giving me a sort of ground truth. Here is a sample from this past week:

monday - clear, downvalley winds 10 to 18 knots, -1 C
tuesday - scattered, downvalley wind continued last night, -4 C
wednesday - scattered, upvalley winds, -4 C / increased winds and cloud level dropped in p.m.
thursday - overcast, calm, -5 C / light snow fell in mountains last night as low pressure passed
friday -overcast, calm, -6 C
saturday - scattered, calm, -6 C
sunday - clear, calm, -6 C

The season's melt had begun underway early in the week and was stalled by a passing low pressure. The small storm dropped light snow on the lakes and glaciers which hasall but shut down the melt. Our team is waiting for the melt to continue so we can conduct some salt tracer experiments on the cryolakes.

I spent a night at F6 camp for my Annual Fryxell Download and Maintenance Blitz. The Stream Team were great hosts . I completed maintenance on Explorers Cove, Lake Fryxell, F6 snow fence, and the soil stations. I spent a night sleeping 'under the stars' and the passing storm provided good sleeping temperatures.

The bad news of this past week is my camera broke (another lens error). So, no more photos for a while.

gobble, gobble

2008-11-26T12:31:00.000-08:00

We are 14 people today. Our Thanksgiving numbers are lower than previous seasons. Ironically, we have one of the largest birds this season… 24 pounds. We had been expecting an additional four people but the helicopters were unable to fly as poor weather settled over the McMurdo area. Without the additional four, our food to people ratios got a little dangerous. Of particular interest to me was the person to pie ratio (ppr). At 18 people our ppr will be 2.57 to 1, but at 14 people our ppr dropped to 2.00 to 1, or 2 people per pie.

Rae, Jesse, Kathy, and Sandra spent the day prior to our holiday cooking an amazing meal. Then, in the early morning hours on Thanksgiving Rae put the bird in the oven. Our meal was fantastic and the red wine flowed...

I produced my best hand turkey this season, 'the Turkey Glacier topographic map' (map nerds will note many flaws).

Glacier mapping with LiDAR

2008-11-25T01:10:00.000-08:00

I spent three days last week mapping glaciers using ground-based LiDAR. The instrument is able to measure very precisely. Marainne Okal and Thomas Nylen from UNAVCO came out to Lake Hoare to run the instrument and to teach me how to operate the instrument. We intend to repeat the mapping at the end of the season to determine change (ablation and movement).

We mapped a glacier cliff and basin on Canada Glacier for the first two days. The instrument captures 2000 points a second that are organized into x, y, and z dimensions. These points can be georeferenced into lat/long/elevation. The LiDAR mapped the cliff and basin with an accuracy of 1 cm or better. Here are some photos of the cliff (left)and basin (right):

The third day we ventured to Don Juan Pond rock glacier via helicopter. Don Juan Pond is a hyper-saline lake in Wright Valley. The lake is very unique and is a protected area. Right above the lake is a rock glacier (a glacier that is covered with rock debris). We mapped the entire lower half at 10 cm and subsampled smaller plots at 1 cm accuracy.

Rock glaciers occur through out the world including the Western US. Similar features were recently found on Mars (see here). The similarities between the Dry Valleys and Mars are rather astonishing.

Melting Sierra Nevada Glaciers on NPR

2008-11-15T11:51:00.000-08:00

NPR ran a story on Sierra Nevada Glaciers last Monday as part of their Climate Watch series. Two NPR reporters, Sasha Khokha and Gretchen Weber, accompanied me up to Dana Glacier last September to shoot repeat photographs of IC Russell's 1883 photographs. Located just outside the border of Yosemite National Park, Dana Glacier is one of the most accessible glaciers in the Sierra Nevada. The hike can be made in a day, but it is through tough terrain at higher elevations. We were able to discuss glaciers and climate as we journeyed up to the glacier, while also recording background sound along the way. There was a fair breeze blowing so a large haired microphone nicknamed DLR (David Lee Roth) and an umbrella were deployed to reduce the blustery wind sound. When we reached the location of Russell's photograph I could see that the glacier had become smaller since 2004. It was not a surprise, as Rhonda and I had just visited Darwin Glacier, which had also shrunk since 2004. We continued to the base of the glacier where we could see the glacier was still moving, evident from crevasses. However, the glacier was clearly smaller, had lost volume, and a new small moraine had begun to form at the base of the glacier. The day had grown long and we journey back down the valley. I managed to get us caught up in some brush on the return trip, not very welcome after a long day out. We returned the car, happy to be back down and ready to treat ourselves to some dinner. It is sometimes tough to watch the glaciers continue to shrink, but I'm happy that the word is getting out and that people care enough to listen.

Check out the radio broadcast and multimedia reports. The story was also picked up on Patagonia's The Cleanest Line blog.

glacier measurements and the wind

2008-11-10T20:33:00.000-08:00

I spent this past week conducting glacier mass balance measurements. This is a formal was of saying that I measured the height of bamboo stakes (in mm) that are positioned on surface of the glaciers. I also dig snow pits to determine the loss or gain of snow on the glaciers. Joining me were Liz Bagshaw (Bristol, UK) and Dylan Taylor, our field mountaineer. The weather had been cold (-20 C) and cloudy leading up to our measurements. The day Liz and Dylan joined me the sky cleared. We have had 7 days of clear blue sky. Check out Dylan's blog to hear more about our week (click here).

The temperatures have also improved (-12 C) but the winds have been strong. A katabatic wind blew down valley for 12 hours, gusting up to 42 knots. Today the up-valley (coastal) winds have been arguing with the down-valley (polar plateau) winds. The flags around camp and on the glaciers appear to be the referees. We people seem to get caught in the middle.

I made the best of the first katabatic wind storm by grabbing the kite Rhonda gave me for graduation. I have named the kite Schmitz. After bundling myself up, I headed out to Lake Hoare. Schmitz took to the air at once. I haven’t had consistent strong winds this good since the first time Rhonda and I took the kite out to Hood River. I flew for about 20 minutes before I decided that the sound generated from the kite might be keeping people awake in their tents. Looking forward to the next flight.

9 days

2008-11-01T02:04:00.000-07:00

I am happy to write that I arrived at Lake Hoare field camp today. Total travel time from leaving Portland was 9 days. I feel fortunate that I was not delayed along the way by weather or mechanical problems. Its always strange to return to such a timeless place. Today was a cool day, around 1 F (-18 C) with a mix of clouds.

back to the future

2008-10-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

I passed back into the future yesterday while crossing the International Date Line. The travel here was uneventful. Which is good.

I am now in Christchurch, where it is currently hailing. Plan for the day is to relax and head to the CDC mid day for clothing issue.

a new season

2008-10-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

It has been 8 months since I returned from Antarctica. I leave in three days to head back down. The days in Portland are growing shorter, cooler, and the rain has returned.

return to pdx

2008-02-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

I am getting adjusted back to life in Portland. There are incremental steps that are taken to reacquaint one's self after being away. Much begins in Christchurch, NZ... seeing night - which feels like a blanket or ceiling over ones head; seeing children - who seem like such little people, the smell of plants, the rush of traffic (vehicles in Mcmurdo don't go much faster than 10 mph), and the bombardment of advertising.

Return to McMurdo

2008-02-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

I have arrived back at McMurdo Station last night. I have finally finished this season's field work. I failed to keep up with the field notes 'due to' a lack of time and found that I felt I lacked originality. Most folks down here have a blog and after awhile I felt as if I were filling in a Mad Libs. With some renewed encouragement from my fan base (http://morealpinelightplease.blogspot.com/) I thought I would pass on a couple of things worth noting upon arriving back to town.

First of all, I smell... and not a good smell. I know this is true, but not to what extent. It is a wise practice to head straight to housing, grab dorm room , and head directly to shower. I felt I had over indulged after 7 minutes of hot water. Following the shower one's body begins to immediately dessicate. The hot water opens the skin to the dry environment and excessive heating of buildings. Lubiderm and drinking lots of water helps relieve this.

Next stop: the galley, where over 1100 people grab a meal. My head was spinning navigating through all the people, who deciding what looked eatable. I grabbed lettuce and something overcooked.

After the meal, I consumed 1 IPA beer and did my laundry for the first time since early December.

2007-12-24T17:59:00.000-08:00

I awoke this morning to the sound of exploding rockfall from the mountain above. I unzipped the tent in time to see the peppering of boulders strike the slopes below and begin to tumble while rock dust began to cloud the area. Several boulders continued to tumble down the slopes far enough and long enough to calculate its trajectory. When all settled, a long streak of permafrost was exposed along the slope below the rockfall. An incredible way to awake on Christmas morning.

Life is going well here at Lake Hoare. Work has kept me busy over the past several weeks and maintaining this blog had became far too difficult. I am doing my best to catch up on things during the two day holiday.

Ive been working on maintaining weather stations, installing new instruments, and assisting Liz and Matt with their experiments. The sensors on the weather stations need to be swapped for calibrated sensors every 2 to 3 years. I visit most stations by helicopter, and others by foot.

BBC film crew

2007-11-27T23:18:00.000-08:00

On Saturday morning I hiked the high route to Lake Bonney. My pack was full of meteorological sensors, warm clothing, a sleeping bag, pee bottles, and lots of high calorie food. My path went up Andrew's Ridge, across the upper valley, over to the Marr Glacier lakes, then down through the ventifact gardens to Lake Bonney camp. My favorite part of this hike is coming off the high route where you can opt to walk along a thin black dike protruding from the granite. The view of Taylor Glacier winding its way up toward the polar plateau is spectacular.

My purpose to head up to Lake Bonney was to meet with a BBC film crew. The group was shooting footage for a bit on climate change and the role of Antarctica. Two other LTER groups were already busy at work when I arrived at camp. The BBC crew were interested in what we were all doing, but were most interested in collecting footage to tell their story. I was interviewed while working on the L. Bonney weather station. Then again that evening in the ventifact garden. I think it went well, though I was thoroughly knackered in the evening and trouble constructing logical sentences. Afterward I still needed to head over to the west lobe of the lake to swap a storage module. I rode the ATV for about 20 mins on the frozen mote. The sun was reflecting off the lake and I thought about what I was doing and where I was on the globe.

After completing my work I made my way back to the camp for a 2 muffin dinner, then retired on the helicopter pad steps for some sleep.

glacier measurements

2007-11-18T11:57:00.000-08:00

Liz, Danny, and I have completed the glacier measurements on Commonwealth, Howard, Canada, Seuss, Hughes, and Taylor Glaciers. The work went very smoothly and we had good weather (clear to overcast, temps around -10 C, calm winds). We didn't find much new snow accumulation from last year. Most all of the new snow was from the recent October storms which was heavily reworked by the wind.

a typical day during glacier measurements…
wake for coffee and bagel
make lunch and suit up
helicopter pick up, fly to glacier
drop survival bags off at base of glacier
then fly to the upper glacier and get dropped off
measure stake heights and snow density while walking down the glacier ~6 miles(preferred over walking up glacier)
helicopter pick up at end of day
transfer data into field notebook
enjoy a delicious meal.

From Antarctica 20...

2007-11-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

worked on Commonwealth glacier today making mass balance measurements with Liz and Danny (FSTP). Good day out. The katabatic winds that have been blowing for the last 3 days let up. The winds blew out all the snow and warmed the temps to -4 C.

I just got good news that my luggage has arrived on the continent. One step closer.

A narrow window

2007-11-07T21:50:00.000-08:00

Wednesday morning was white with blowing snow. With all the poor weather, it was looking unlikely that Liz and I would be able to make it out to Lake Hoare on our scheduled helicopter flight. Rae surprised us in town and was scheduled to fly out with us. After lunch, the snow ceased and visibility improved a little. Just 30 mins after our scheduled time we received a call notifying us that they were going give it a shot. We loaded our helicopter and were on our way. Our pilot, Paul, navigated out to the ice edge and then over to the valleys. An unusual sight welcomed us into the Dry Valleys... several inches of snow cloaked the valley floor all the way up to the peaks. It looked like a different place. I was quite happy landing at Lake Hoare. Sandra welcomed us and we began to unpack. Later in the evening I was overcome with joy.. eating some of Rae's famous pad thai, sipping a GnT and finishing the evening with a very fine moist German chocolate cake that Sandra made. Its good to be back.

ready... set....

2007-11-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

4 days after our arrival in MCM, Liz and I are ready to head into the field. We have completed our refresher courses on cold weather injury, radio and communications, drill and augers, and an environmental course that highlights ways to reduce the impact on the fragile environment of the Dry Valleys while working there.

We have also completed preparing our cargo. While our project is far from"fast and light", our project strives to keep things simple and by Antarctic standards light. That said, I have just completed organizing and packing 1200 pounds of cargo which will be flown to the field with us. Personal gear for Liz and I is about 150 pounds. The remaining is camp gear, lab and meteorological equipment including car batteries, sensors, dataloggers, etc.

There is a large amount of work and many tasks which must be completed before heading into the field. What make its possible to complete is the amazing science support. The folks down here are amazing at what they do. The system seems complicated at first, but really works well once you understand where things are and how things operate.

While Liz and I are ready, several low pressure storms have soured the weather here, halting most air traffic except for some helicopter work. The polies (people work at the South Pole Station) have been waiting for weather to clear and boomeranged after circling 5 time yesterday. I am hopeful that we will have a window to head to Lake Hoare tomorrow.

Back on The Ice

2007-10-31T13:12:00.001-07:00

My time in Christchurch was good and fairly brief. I was able to enjoy a breakfast at the Windsor Hotel and some Ginger Tom beer. I was outfitted with cold weather clothing at the CDC and off the next day to MCM. We had a good flight. I was able to visit the cockpit while flying over the Transantarctic Mountains... beautiful icy peaks poking out of the low clouds.

Upon arrival with the plane doors open, I emerged on a familiar place where it felt nothing had changed. Time away from here feels like it is preserved in a dream. The weather has been colder than previous years. After getting settle here in McMurdo Station, Liz and I quickly shift to preparing our equipment and attending field refresher training. Its also really good to see old friends down here, its quite an extraordinary community down here.

I am glad I wore clothes I liked because my luggage is still missing. Its good to be reminded that I really don't need all that stuff. Not yet at least.

9,042 miles

2007-10-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

I now live closer to a large airport than in any other time in my life. The frequent sounds of small craft overhead have been incorporated into the background of my life. This morning is an exception. I awake to the groans of a commercial airliner laboring on its decent to Portland. The sound of planes seems more relevant, today I begin my journey south. With last minute packing completed my friend Rhonda gives me a ride to the airport...

230pm - Portland - I am bounced between airliners as my original flight was late. I get all the extra treatment in security for having all the last minute changes.

630pm -Los Angeles - Arrive in LAX and meet up with my field partner Liz. We grab sushi and head through security.

830pm - Begin the long journey over the Pacific. Got some good sleep in. watched "Once" and a documentary on El Nino.

- - - Crossed international dateline and entered "the future" - - -

530am - Arrive in Aucklund after 12 hour flight. One bag missing. (Ugh). time for a flat white.

900am - Fly to Christchurch.

Feels good to arrive in Christchurch. Something very familar and comfortable here. Off for Lamb kebabs at the town square.

the preparation

2007-10-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

The time is upon me to prepare for another trip to the ice. My life is wrapped in lists... work lists: write programs (for aspirated fan, TDR, conductivity), backup data, calibrate probes, compile GPS points; and personal lists... cancel phone, remove car insurance, $ chapstick and sunglasses, pay remaining bills, catch up with family and friends before leaving. Oh, I haven't forgotten coffee. About 3 weeks ago, I sent a package to myself on the ice with coffee (4lbs) and chipotle. Two things that improve life... anywhere.
Current packing consists of a big pile of clothes in my room and a large number of sensors and coils of wires at work. Soon it will coalesce into two large cases for a 9042 mile adventure.

Just one week to go.