June 26: Toolik Two-step

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:19 am

Today we continued to wind down (kind of… everyone was super busy!)

I spent the afternoon preparing a portion of the experiment for shipping back to Columbus where I will analyze the amount of pollution in vials with more sensitive equipment at Ohio State. I had to use the analytical balance (a very precise balance which measures the mass of objects to four decimal places: 4.1256 g)… The balance has sliding windows to keep off the breeze, and samples with hexane had to be capped before weighing… Hexane evaporates quickly enough to be measured using an analytical balance.

Others worked on finishing up sampling and packing. It looked like a tornado swept through Lab 4.

Supplies were separated into two piles before being packed: those items requiring warm storage, and those that can tolerate cold storage. The difference: about 130*F … Winters on the tundra can reach -70*F or colder. At those temperatures, if you were to throw the contents of a cup of hot coffee into the air, it would never reach the ground. The liquid would crystallize (turn from liquid to solid) before it hit the ground.

As a precaution before shipping, Amanda and Penney also measured the mass of the each of the hundreds of vials we have collected over the last three weeks. Boooring, but necessary. If the hexane evaporates before it gets to its final destination (Ohio State), it will change the concentration of pollution (oh, my!) Knowing the concentration of the pollution is what the experiment is all about… kind of important then take this precaution.

The evening ended with a Toolik Dance. Sally McIntire, an oceanographer from UCSB taught us all some brilliant Afro-Brazilian lessons. Bob, another researcher, led us in contra dancing, and Jenny, a Toolik staff member, rocked the house (what was left at 12:30 a.m.) with an eclectic mix of silly and fun music.

Molly was a gracious partner.

but apparently had some reservations about my dancing.

As if she had room to talk Smile

Penney’s haiku

Tundra

soft wonder beneath,
life: poised to blossom with sun,
briefly, freed from ice