Prince Patrick Island - A Typical Day

Joined: 02 Apr 2004 Posts: 1

Typical day: The sun will be high in the sky 24 hrs a day. Depending on cloud cover it will be bright, sunny, and breezy or low clouds and drizzle, wind, sleet, or snow. In either case it will likely be windy and you will need layers to stay comfortable even on the sunny days. The area is surrounded by sea ice so the wind will be chilly. The temps will likely range in the 30s to 50s although we have had days in the 80s at that latitude. The research group has a really nice tent to work in and eat in. The students will be huddled nearby looking for snacks from the kitchen but generally have their own camp.

The class has breakfast at 7:30 or 8 and class starts at 9. The research group had breakfast around 7:30 I think and people often made sandwiches to bring lunch to the field. There is a cook but cleanup is a family affair. We will likely have an evening seminar series where the students will joint he team for a talk by one of the researchers after dinner. These formally lasted until the students started to doze off and then the researchers continued discussing the fine points of frost boils on into the night. We do some activities as a whole group (site selections) but after that individual groups have there own sampling agenda. We will be encouraging the students to get involved in the sampling, and we will have some sampling that the class will work on. We will also encourage individual researchers to come and spend the morning or an hour or two with the class.

Food is simple but plentiful. Most folks have their own sleeping tent. There is a daily award for goofy behavior...I forget what we called it but it involved a small rubber chicken. We will be concerned with safety because of the remoteness of the site. Everyone is alert and cautious but it is a relaxed atmosphere.

The wildlife is sparse that far north but I have been twice now to Mould Bay and we have seen Muskoxen and Peary caribou as we flew in. I am sure we will see more over our two week stay.

-BG