Polar Passport

Another classroom chat

Dan did a live classroom chat session with a class from Presbyterian Ladies College in Sydney last month... here's how it went:

Rowena> Hi dan, we're just logging on

Dan> 'morning! Sorry I missed you earlier.

Gabrielle> Hello

Vivian> hi dan

Rowena> That's okay.

Gabrielle> Hello Dan

Luisa> Hello Dan

Gabrielle> Hello Dan

Dan> Hello. How will we do this? Are you all going to talk at once?

Abby> Hi Dan :)

Gabrielle> no i am going to ask the 1st question and we will all take turns

Gabrielle> So Dan.. What made you decide to travell on all these expeditions

Dan> Good, you're well organised! I hope my typing can keep up.

Abby> :)

Dan> Well, I always wanted to go to Antarctica, since I wasa child.

Dan> And after the first time I found I liked it, so I worked to go again.

Vivian> have you ever been in any dangerous or life threatening situations?

Caitlin> hey

Caitlin> dan

Dan> And after a few more times, I found I was good at it, so people are happy for me to keep going! Lucky!

Dan> I've never been in an accident in Antarctica - we are very careful not do do dangerous things.

Vivian> :)

Dan> But sometimes I have been in situations where an accident would have been very bad indeed... that is scary enough.

Abby> are there any plants in antarctica? if so, how do they photsynthesise?

Abby> in the dark months

Dan> And just daily life can include storms and mountains and other 'dangerous' things - you need to have the skills and confidence to work there.

Dan> There are plants.

Dan> Most are lichens, which are not 'true' plants - they are actually a symbiosis between a fungus and an alga.

Caitlin> what are the most interesting aspects of your job?

Dan> And there are some mosses, which are also not 'true' plants - they don't make flowers and seeds.

Dan> Only in the warmest part of Antarctica there are two plants with flowers... very small ones!

Vivian> so they wither and die in the dark months?

Dan> I like it all, but I am really a scientist at heart - I get excited about learning how the world works, whether it is my work or somebody else's.

Caitlin> cool

Caitlin> thnx

Dan> Well, they stop growing, anyway.

Gabrielle> What science is your favourite

Dan> Some algae grow only in the summer, and die in the winter.

Dan> Things grow very slowly - there are lichens that are thousands of years old!

Luisa> what exactly do you do when you 'work' in antarctica?

Stacey> don't plants need soil to grow? is there soil in antarctica for them to grow?

Dan> Most of the 'work' is not science - it's getting organised, travelling etc.

Dan> When I 'work' it can be several things.

Dan> The last trip, I was installing instruments, which run all by themselves for years down there.

Dan> Sometimes it's collecting rocks, or just walking around looking at rocks and writing down my observations. That's geology!

Tara> What kind of instruments?

Dan> The mosses and flowering plants need soil. The lichens are tougher - the fungus can break down solid rock, and produce nutrients that feed the alga - that's symbiosis - amazing, isn't it!

Abby> yes it sure is amazing!

Vivian> wow ;)

Caitlin> yeah wow

Dan> The instruments are GPS receivers. Like the one you use in you car or for bushwalking, but much more accurate.

Caitlin> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan> We are measuring the movement of the land, which tells us how the glaciers have been changing over thousands of years.

Abby> thats exciting!

Dan> It only moves a few millimetres per year, so the GPS has to be very good.

Gabrielle> that is amazing

Stacey> really amazing!

Jordana> hello Dan! we were wondering what the coldest temperature you have been in was and what you did to keep yourself warm?

Gabrielle> how much have you mesured so far

Dan> Like the plants, our GPS go to sleep in the winter, because they are powered by solar panels. And they wake up in the spring, and send us their data by satellite.

Vivian> cool!

Caitlin> awesome

Abby> they are like bears!

Dan> I think the coldest I've been in was about -30 C. And it was windy, so it felt even colder!

Abby> did you get any frostbite?

Jordana> wow! nothing like Australia!

Dan> You wear lots of clothes, and eat lots of high-energy food.

Tara> What food do you eat and how do you make it?

Dan> I've never got real frostbite. When I had to work in thin gloves in bad weather (to use my fingers) they did get frozen, and took about 30 minutes to warm up again when I got back into the tent. But no permanent damage, luckily.

Abby> ok. awesome.

Dan> Food is pretty simple when you're camping - dried, mostly. A few tins, but they can freeze solid!

Luisa> how do you shower?

Tara> Don't you ever run out of food?

Abby> i have an amazing fact for you Dan. Did you know that today a year ago was the windiest day in Antarctica? 156km/h!

Dan> If you're camping, you might sometimes wash outside, if it's not too cold, with a bucket of warm water. But Often you just wait until you get back to a base, where there is a real shower. That feels so good!

Dan> We carry a lot of extra food - enoug hfor a whole month! Not nice food - survival rations!

Caitlin> which do you prefer more? greenland or antartctic

Elizabeth> Do you have to be careful when you take deep breaths and sneeze that your saliva and breath don't freeze?

Dan> Ah, difficult to say! Greenland was very exciting this year, because I've never been there before.

Caitlin> ok

Sherry> what is your worest experience in Antartctica?

Caitlin> what did you do there

Dan> But Antarctica is more special - because there is almost no life, and no 'civilisation', the land feel so empty, and so big - for me, that clears my head, lets me understand things better; it's very special.

Gabrielle> Thats really Amazing

Abby> thats beautiful.

Vivian> with a capital A

Caitlin> wow i can't wait 2 go there someday

Tara> Don't you ever get homesick?

Dan> In Greenland, I was collecting mud from the bottom of small lakes - we pushed tubes into the mud, and collected several metres. We are using that to study changes in sea-level over thousands of years.

Jordana> what are the sea levels in Antartica? are they increasing as fast as everybody is fearing?

Dan> Homesick? Yes, I miss a lot of 'normal' things. But it's worth it to me! I suppose everyone decides which is more important to them - home, or adventure - and chooses a balance.

Stacey> how did you get to the bottom of lakes filled with mud? could you see anything?

Elizabeth> Do you have to be careful when you take deep breaths and sneeze that your saliva and breath don't freeze?

Dan> Sea-level is rising - people measure it with tide-gauges all over the world, and from satellites. It's not a 'problem' in antarctica, because nobody lives there! It will be a problem in a lot of other places.

Tara> How do you stay healthy just living off tin food?

Dan> We collect the mud cores from a little boat - I'll just find a picture.

Abby> thats really cool.

Gabrielle> thanks that would be great

 

Vivian> Coolalicious

Dan> sorry - too big!

Elizabeth> wow. amazing

Jordana> thats ok!

Abby> amazing!

Dan> A lot of geology is just hard work - wet, muddy, cold... But if you are interested in the science, you don't mind.

Dan> And sometimes, the weather is perfect, and you're just so happy to be out in the wilderness!

Abby> how interesting.

Luisa> how close have you been to a penguin?

Tara> How do you make igloos?

Elizabeth> Do you have to be careful when you take deep breaths and sneeze that your saliva and breath don't freeze?

Abby> nice question lizzie.

Dan> I've made a couple of igloos, just for fun. The snow in Antarctica is very dry, and easy to cut into blocks that you can stack up. But getting the shape right takes some practice.

Jordana> how come igloos don't melt when you light a fire inside them?

Dan> Breath freezing isn't really a problem - it can't freeze inside you! But you can grow an icicle from the end of your nose, or in your beard, or grow big lumps of ice on your eyelashes. It can be uncomfortable.

Elizabeth> ew. and ow.

Elizabeth> wow. i always thought that it was true. thanks for clearing that for me

Luisa> how close have you gotten to a penguin??

Jordana> how come igloos don't melt when you light a fire inside them?

Dan> You are only allowed to approach a penguin to 5 m. But penguins are allowed to approach you! I have had them biting my fingers, nibbling my jacket... it's wonderful. They are so funny.

Abby> goodquestion.

Gabrielle> is it becasue the ice is dry

Luisa> cute and cool

Dan> I haven't lit a fire in an igloo. I have used a camping stove, but still, the temperature inside stays below zero, so the snow doesn't melt.

Vivian> Have any animals ever attacked you before?

Caitlin> what's your favourite animal? why?

Jordana> thank you

Abby> wow!

Dan> Yes, the leopard seal is a big predator, and not afraid of anything except Killer Whales. I had one bite the boat I was in, and puncture the rubber!

Abby> how scary.

Gabrielle> that must have been really scary

Luisa> scary

Jordana> wow! how did you survive!?

Caitlin> very scary

Dan> Well, I didn't think the boat would sink, but I had to go straight back to a nearby ship!

Luisa> were you by yourself in the boat?

Vivian> how many times have you travelled to Antarctica or to the Arctic, whether for work or travel?

Vivian> holiday?

Dan> No, I was working for a small tourist ship, so I had six passengers with me! Pretty exciting for them!

Luisa> wow. memorable.

Abby> so.. you take tourists to Antarctica?

Dan> I've done nine summers in Antarctica as a scientist, and three 'seasons' of tour guiding.

Vivian> ouch, wouldn't been scared

Gabrielle> how many more scientists go on expeditions with you

Elizabeth> do you ever use sled dogs as transportation around antarctica?

Dan> Yes, there are all sorts of tourist trip. My favourite is the sailing ship you can just see in my chat icon picture. I'll sail with them again in January.

Stacey> if so, what are the sled dogs names??

Dan> Australia stopped using dogs in 1992.

Abby> wow. does it cost alot for tourists to go to Antarctica?

Luisa> what qualifications or studies do you have to take to be able to go to antarctica as a scientist?

Elizabeth> why did you stop using dogs?

Jordana> why did you stop using sled dogs/

Abby> why did they stop using dogs?

Dan> They said it was for environmental reasons, but I don't think they had much impact, and everyone loved having them there...

Dan> Yes, I suppose tourist trips are quite expensive... about $400 per day. Not as expensive as a really fancy resort, but still an expensive holiday.

Luisa> what qualifications or studies do you have to take to be able to go to antarctica as a scientist?

Dan> There are all sorts of people working in Antarctica! Geology and biology are always popular.

Caitlin> what's your favourite animal? why?

Dan> Physics, glaciology and engineering, are a bit more advanced - most people have to do a university degree before starting studying those things.

Luisa> wow thankyou

Dan> Because it takes a lot of time to travel to antarctica, and the work can be unconfortable, often there are students working there, not professors. A lot of young people.

Dan> Favourite animal? I'm a geologist! Ask me about my favourite rock!

Dan> Just joking. Probably albatross.

Luisa> whats your favourite rock?

Abby> Dan, thank you so much for talking to our class about your trips to Antarctica, we have loved hearing about your encounters and experiences you have had. Thank you once again.

Elizabeth> thanks dan

Luisa> bye xx

Dan> They're so big, and graceful, and also very solitary.

Caitlin> thanks dan

Vivian> thanks!

Rowena> Dan - the lunch bell has just gone

Caitlin> see you

Dan> Fun talking to you! Time to rest my fingers!

Vivian> bye bye

Abby> thank you bye!

Rowena> Thanks so much for your time, the girls have really enjoyed this

Dan> Good. Time for my lunch too.
Rowena> OK Bye

Dan> bye

PNG - Land of the Unexpected

This is an official tourism slogan here, and it's perfect! The locals love it, and pull it out cheerfully and sarcastically at every opportunity.

We had a good drive today out to the west of Wewak, to a village called But. The road is rougher than I had expected, with several stream crossings and one big washout where the locals were busy with road works. We got there after a couple of hours - it's a lovely spot, with a beautiful beach and a Japanese WWII memorial. Our survey marker is on the lawn between the church and the police office, a safe location with good sky exposure for the GPS satellites.

Normally the village is tiny and quiet, but this week the beachfront is a mass of tents and shelters, with several hundred people in the village for the Momase Catholic Youth Forum. They've built a temporary stage, and a shelter about 30 x 30 m to give the audience shade... which is right on top of the mark, of course. There's really no practical way we could have checked this beforehand - the village has no phone, not even a short-wave radio.

The forum will be there until Sunday, so we've abandoned trying to measure it for the moment.

Tomorrow we'll go back to the east to recover the equipment from Angoram and Tring; it should be routine, but this is the land of the unexpected!

lukim yu,

Dan

A Day in a PMV

It's been a busy few days.

On Friday we installed one GPS receiver at Wewak airport, and arranged batteries and transport for the other sites.

The equipment here is quite similar to what we were installing in Antarctica: a GPS receiver and antenna, powered by batteries and a solar panel. But here the antenna is on a tripod, not bolted to the ground like in Antarctica, because it only has to stand a few days, and because we are measuring the horizontal movement of the earth, and not the vertical (it's hard to measure the height of a tripod accurately enough to measure vertical positions). And we don't need to transfer the data
by satellite here - we just download it from the receiver every day or two.

On Saturday we made a trip along the inland road east from Wewak about 120 km, to the town of Angoram, on the Sepik River. We installed two more sets of equipment on the way, in Angoram and the village of Tring, both on survey markers that have been measured several times in previous years. We leave the equipment in a small tent to shelter it from the Sun and rain, and ask the local people to take care of it until we come back again.

The sites are left to make measurements for four days, but today we went back to check them. When we don't have all the gear to carry (each site weighs about 80 kg in total), we don't need to have our own vehicle. I prefer to travel by PMV, or 'Private Motor Vehicle', which are the private transport services operating all over Papua New Guinea. They vary from small vans in the towns, to trucks in the countryside, and 4WD vehicles for the mountain areas with rough roads and river crossings. It's a good way to travel and talk with the local people, and see where they are going and what they're doing.

Today our PMV had bad luck, with several flat tyres to be changed and fixed along the way, but we checked both sites, which were operating normally. Due to the travel delays, we got back to Wewak after dark, but the apologetic driver dropped us at our door. And it was nice coming back through the hills at dusk - the road deserted compared to daytime, the smokey smell of cooking and the glow of small fires in the jungle across across the valley, at huts invisible in the darkness.

Better luck next time,

Dan

A Polar Scientist in the Tropics

Welcome back to the blog; sorry I've neglected it for a while.

The work in the arctic (Svalbard and Greenland) was great, but I didn't have the time to write about it, or the possibility to send email easily, so the blog suffered. Perhaps I'll be able to write a bit about what I did in those places,and post a couple of nice photos, but the coming months are pretty busy with more work and travel, so I hope there'll be enough exciting new stuff.

I'm in Papua New Guinea! As well as the Antarctic project I was working on last summer, the group I work with at the Australian National University does some research here. Like the Antarctic project, this one is 'GPS geodesy' - using precise GPS receivers to measure the movement of the Earth's crust. In Antarctica, we are trying to measure the movement caused by changes in the thickness of the ice there.

Here in PNG, we are measuring the movement of the tectonic plates. Where the Australian Plate is colliding with the Pacific Plate, there are a lot of fault lines and earthquakes, and the land is pushed up into high mountain ranges.

I arrived in Port Moresby on Monday, and stayed a couple of days to collect the equipment I'd shipped here from Australia, and make other arrangements. Today, I flew to Wewak, on the north coast of the island.

PNG's airlines have had experienced a lot of delays recently, so I arrived 2.5 hours early for my 10:00 flight this morning, having anenormous stack of excess luggage and remembering the long excess-baggage payment queue from when I was here last year.

After a lot of waiting without check-in for my flight being opened, it was announced that it was delayed four hours. At least I was able to check in and queue without fear of missing the flight. It turned out to be five hours delay, but I am now in Wewak. Flying over the Highlands, the land was mostly covered with cloud, but sometimes there was a glimpse through to rugged misty jungle-clad mountains. The plane did a wide turn before landing, and I saw the town of Wewak on a long coast, fringed with coconut palms.

Checking in early was a good idea. Though I felt a little guilty when it turned out on arrival in Wewak that a dozen other passengers' bags had been offloaded before we left, while all my 7 bags, 140 kg, arrived with me.

I'm staying close to the airport, where I'll start my work tomorrow. A healthy and contented-looking tree kangaroo is browsing in an enclosure outside my room, along with a couple of raucous parrots, and the frogs have started up in the evening rain, not quite loud enough to drown the sound of the surf at the beach just 50 m away. Very different to Antarctica and Greenland!

Lukim yu bihain ("see you later" in PNG pidgin)

Dan