Author: greg

Finally, my equipment (and my personal baggage) have arrived from Alert last Friday. As before I have rented a van to pick things up and everything went smoothly. People at the base (I did not have to go to Toronto this time) were really helpful getting my stuff released and into the truck. Now the unpacking starts …

I have compiled the first data sets from ancillary measurements, such as temperature, snow layer depth, wind direction, which will help me to interpret my data. I have also made tables of my snow and air samples, fibre usage,… in order to have a good overview.

After a nice flight back with stops in Resolute Bay and (overnight) in Iqualuit I have arrived back in Montreal after a pleasant train ride from Trenton.

I have seen my coolers in the back of the plane and time in transit was 35 hrs, good enough for them to stay frozen. After some questions I was reassured that they would to into the freezer immediately. I also learned that my personal baggage was not loaded onto the plane, so I will be without it for another week.

After a phone call from Montreal I received the message that the coolers are fine (in the freezer) and that they could stay their until the arrival of my remaining equipment.

Finally the day of my departure has arrived. I got an another unexpected extension for the delivery of my coolers and packed them only today in the early morning. I filled them with ice-packs and snow and off they went to the airfield 3 hours before planned departure.

We departed at 12.00 noon and I spotted my coolers in the back – they should be good for 40 hrs. Originally we were destined to go to Thule, but shortly before we boarded the plane, it was re-routed to Iqaluit (where we spent the night) via Resolute Bay.

Arrival was in the late afternoon in Trenton. I could not see my samples go into the freezer (they would not let me), but the air crew assured me that they will let cargo know and the labels should be fine anyway. I keep my fingers crossed (and will phone them tomorrow). My check-in baggage, however, got lost – still being at Alert. It should arrive in Trenton next week. Let’s hope for the best and that I have some clothes left back home.

I spent my last day mostly packing my equipment and personal stuff. My check-in baggage had to be at the HAPS ramp at 1.00 p.m., so I did that right after breakfast at 7 a.m., so that I could continue with my scientific gear.

I found a drill that could go in both directions and some bits – so this time I opened and closed the GC Box without getting my hands sore and packing the GC was a snap. I prepared the coolers (left them outside for a couple of hours) to load them with my samples later tonight – I got an extra day before loading after some negotiations.

There is quite a bit of dangerous stuff to ship back (waste, standards, cylinders,…) and I will work things out, when I get back.

Finally things started winding down. In the morning I fetched my gear from the GAW Lab and the SST. I sorted MOUDI substrates for the last time and hauled all my gear back with the sled (from the GAW Lab and the SST). It is high time I get the “Sled-dog”-Award 🙂 I then headed back with the truck and started packing. I also enjoyed a hot lunch, yeah! It was not often that I had the pleasure in the past three weeks. I had a last good look at the gorgeous views, the mountains and the Lincoln Sea. I miss them already!

Packing went fine – at least the first part. It seems that I have more space (no standards, fewer batteries, consumables). I will easily be able to finish by tomorrow night with the items that get shipped later. I have spoken to the Traffic guys to leave the coolers outside the aircraft as long as possible and store them in the rear near the ramp on the plane, where it is cooler during the flight. In Trenton there will be space in a freezer, until I pick my stuff up. Nothing to worry about, unless we break down for an extended period of time.

I rose early today to prepare my last sampling trip to the BAY Site today. I have also tested packing the snow sample bottles, which have to ready by tonight (although I still have to verify that). Otherwise I started packing, once I got back from sampling.

I headed out for sampling around noon with two armed guards. I bravely steered the trusty Nuuk off-road down to the inlet. The snow was deep and wet with small pits appearing. We made it fine down to the inlet. I hauled my gear onto the ice upwind from the truck – 500 m onto the inlet – passing a few cracks on the way. Water had already started melting on the ice surface, giving the impression of open water and the boots sinking occasionally deep into melted snow.

The armed guards followed bravely, then stayed and watched, while I was busy sampling air and snow. I never felt so safe in my life – after telling them not to mistake me for a polar bear, when I had
put on my white clean sampling gear 😉 Sampling went well – SPME with air & a canister, snow in glass bottles and HDPE containers. The snow was already in a state of advanced metamorphism and quite high in liquid water content (read: slushy). I sampled three layers of approximately 9 cm each after digging a nice pit. We got back just in time for dinner.

After a quick dinner I ran the remaining SPME fibres, where I had ad-sorbed compounds sampled from air. Because of the humid conditions, the water in the fibre holders and the needle froze, resulting in the breakage of one of my fibres. Thank God – it is the last day, today. I let the other fibre warm up a bit (risking a loss of compounds, though), but this one was fine.

A comparison of GC Traces showed no differences between the two fibres, so even the broken fibre ran successfully, so surprise – the broken fibre pieces desorbed fine stuck in the liner.

I started running samples early (7 a.m.) with some coffee from the beach, because brunch was not on until 10.30. I am almost out of bottles and canisters, the remaining of which I will use on Sunday. It is now clear that I will not be able to measure all my snow samples up here, although I done a good chunk of them, about two-thirds.

Sample and standard runs went well and I now have decent calibration curves for both(!) headspace and liquid samples. I have used a mix of 20 standards in MilliQ water (with remaining traces of EtOH and MeOH, which served as solvents). I was done at 22.00, enough time to head to the bar for a drink.

It seems that this was the last complete day that I spent measuring at the GAW Lab and the SST. I discussed the coming days’ schedule with Brad and my samples have to be ready on Sunday night, if they should get on the same plane as myself. That means I will have a pretty tight schedule on Sunday, because I would like to pack the snow samples as late as possible.

Sampling went well and included pit sampling of six layers in a 60 cm pit that I dug. Despite the warm weather there is still quite a bit of snow left – not that surprising, when I measured -12.1 degrees C at the snow-soil interface. On they way up to the road and on some of the slopes, however a lot of the snow is already gone. I also emptied the bio-sampler and put on the MOUDI one more time. Finally I took some of my equipment down to the base for snow-sampling on the weekend. At TGIF I spoke to the SWO and we will be heading out to the BAY site on Sunday. Good – so I will get a second data point there, not much in total, but at least some indication of what is going on down there. I just hope that the wind will be fine, not blowing from the base and so that the truck will be located downwind (I will have to keep it running).

I was off to a smooth start today with everything prepared. Measurements were going fine – I ran 4 samples today together with the remaining standards. I now have retention times for them all and can start evaluating my data (at least qualitatively). I also started working on the calibration curves for all compounds.

Tomorrow I will be changing the bio-sampler for the MOUDI one more time. I will also sample snow at the SST for the last time. Saturday or Sunday I would like to go to the Bay site once more and Brad has put in a request for support (i.e. an armed guard and a vehicle with the military).

Next Monday I am going to pick up my stuff at the GAW Lab and the SST and start packing. On the weekend I will also run some more samples on the GC-FID. I should be able to do at least 4 other samples and finish the calibration curve. So that’s the plan. Let’s see, if it works out. I finished after a long day of measurements at 1 a.m. and went straight to bed. The bar was closed already anyway.

I sampled at the GAW Lab and the SST, again. I brought in some additional snow sampling bottles and a canister to have enough for the remaining measurements. I also left 2 canisters and some bottles at the base in order to have some left in case I go out sampling into Alert Inlet once more (which is still not sure). It was a very pleasant day without wind and temperatures just below freezing. The sun was quite strong – but only for the first hour. Then the fog started coming in from the coast (winds from the North and Northeast) and it stayed foggy throughout the day. Winds kept coming from the Northeast and died down eventually. Once the winds had subsided I sampled air with a canister and SPME fibres and bulk snow with glass bottles and HDPE containers.

I also dug a pit (50 cm deep) and sampled 5 different layers into glass bottles. I also performed the usual accompanying temperature measurements of snow and air (in the sun and in the shade). Finally I packed the first two boxes of canisters, which I will ship out on my last day at the SST. I checked the gauges and bubble-wrapped them for shipping. I made my way back through the fog, armed with radio and bear spray. The morning tracks were still fine, so I had no trouble finding the GAW Lab. But I could imagine how easily one can get lost in this slightly hilly and featureless terrain.

At the lab I checked the bio-sampler and the pump again; both were running fine. Initially we were waiting for a tour to come in, but the service flight got pushed back 24 hours due to the fog. If the plane will arrive tomorrow night, I will go up to the lab to disconnect the bio-sampler and put the MOUDI on again.