Author: greg

I have the GC up and running with a great reproducible baseline of approx. 4.5 pA with a HP-5 column (30 m x 250 um x 1.00 um; l x id x film thickness). There is one significant peak at 18.5 min, which could be the diethyl-phtalate I also observe in the GC-MS (retention time is approx. the same). I have then started conditioning the fibers but had to finish early, because of the mandatory TGIF (someone help me with the acronyms here) at 3.30 pm. New arrivals were introduced and games were played. A buffet followed – nice.

I have also made a step closer to completing my plans for the sampling program. Starting Sunday I will sample 3 sites on a regular basis (1 daily, 2 every couple of days) for a time series: Two inland sites at the GAW lab and near the base (incl. MOUDI) and a coastal site on the shore of Alert inlet, away from the road. The bio-sampler will commute between the sites. Otherwise I will see, what other opportunities come up for single sampling events.

After checking back with my advisor I have scrapped plans to sample a triangle of three sites, approx. 10-15 km apart on 2-3 consecutive days. Data should have been used for a model, but I just cannot easily get sampling sites that far apart (8.5 km is the max for 2 sites and this means stretching it involving quite a bit of hiking).

I had a meeting in the morning, discussing sampling locations off base. I think that there are still a couple of issues, which need to be worked out. I will develop a minimum and a maximum version and see, how much will be possible. Everybody is really helpful here, but I do not want to stretch things. The GC is fine, but before starting up I called in the electricians – just in case 😉 With the column installed I started equilibrating once all gas cylinders had arrived. Everything looked fine after a few shutdowns of the detector – which I could fix easily. Tomorrow will be “testing day”.

I made some more photos in Thule, including an Airbus from Air Greenland, which arrived this morning. I also took a picture of the Herc. The flight to Alert was quiet, breathtaking views of Greenland and Ellesmere Island as we made up our way North. Surprisingly, the gravel runway at Alert was smooth as the tarmac in Thule. Some introductory words from a customs officer and we de-boarded the plane.

Finally I am in the northern-most permanently inhabited settlement of the world. Exciting 🙂 After a short bus ride, we had a warm welcome at the base, everybody assembled and clapping. Nice. As people departed right away – same thing, their names were read out loud, when people left. Brad, who runs the GAW lab welcomed me and showed me around – I got a nice room in the Vimy house of the complex. Bathroom on the corridor, but I have a sink in my room including TV and a DVD player. Everything is a bit older than at Thule, but nice and clean – comfy. First lunch at 82 deg North was excellent, including a salad bar and great views. At 1 pm there was a “Welcome briefing”, nothing surprising, mostly rules, but useful information. For the rest of the day I unpacked my equipment. I have a big table and everything should fit there, if I use the GC box as a table too. I am missing a power bar (make note for next time 🙂 but it should not be a problem to get one here. I have already set up the MilliQ unit and it is working well. None of my stuff is broken – everything looks alright including the GC.

Tomorrow I would like to get the GC online. At night the houses played a night of Trivia. Questions were announced over the local radio station and the houses phoned in the answers. We were leading until the last question and for that we had to bet some of our points and we chose all but one – and lost (wrong answer for a hockey question!), very enjoyable anyway.

We stayed overnight at the North Star Inn, in luxurious quarters (towels and coat with slippers provided, SAT-TV in each room). On each floor there was also a kitchen and a common room with wide-screen TV. Even my mobile phone was working – and I sent messages to Canada and Austria together with some post cards from the Greenland post office. I took a long walk on the base and made some pictures – it feels quite Danish here and there is a Danish police station together with European road signs. Most announcements are in Danish and English, some in transcribed Inuktitut(?).

The valley blocked some of the views that I have seen upon arrival, but it is still stunningly beautiful here. Food was excellent and plenty. The mess had a kind of self-service restaurant with Danish and US menus. Food was USD 3.50, 1.70 for the breakfast – not bad for all you can eat 😉 The sun was already up for 24 hrs, so using the blinds was kind of “mandatory” in order to give your body a sense of evening.

Thule is not only an airport, but also a deep water port (during the summer), which explains the degree of luxury here. It is also a receiving port for the supply boat for Alert – stuff gets airlifted from here up North. Departure tomorrow is at 9 am, a bus will be waiting at the inn for us.

I have taken the bus from Montreal to Trenton, the location of the airfield, where I will depart from. Upon checking into the base, I learned that my flight would depart 4 hours early – at 2 am with checkin at midnight. So I got some food in the “Yukon Galley” the local mess and some sleep afterwards. I also changed some US Dollars for the overnight stay in Thule.

A taxi got me to the flight terminal and checking in was fine – 12 passengers in total (2 civilians, an electrician and myself). Baggage checked and after a wait we boarded the Hercules shortly before 2 am. A tiny entrance gave way to a couple of mesh seats and the cargo hold right behind it, otherwise a “naked plane”. Everything was pretty tight, but the flight experience quite pleasant (as pleasant as it can get in a cargo aircraft. Meals were provided too, including some Cheerios 😉 I even got some sleep!

We reached Thule the following morning at 10 am. Beautiful weather outside. Breathtaking views of North Star Bay and Greenland when we were approaching. Not much snow left here; well there was still quite a bit of snow, but no continuous snow layer. Landing was smooth, the airport was huge with a paved runway. No immigration here.

I am ready to go to Alert! Finally, I was able to solve all my final challenges – e.g. a snow gauge is available at Alert and I will be able to borrow it. The second part of my cargo has also arrived this week, so I can start right away, when I arrive.

I will go to Trenton, ON on Monday morning to catch the plane from there. I will also spend a night in Thule, a USAF base in Greenland, before arriving at my final destination on Wednesday.

I have also done a bit of shopping and replaced my 12-year old Gore Tex jacket and my pants that were at least 10 years old. I got some thin gloves to wear under the thick ones, in case I need the dexterity and I also got some waterproof notebooks. Now all there is left to do is stock up on batteries and filters for my camera and pack everything.

I am definitely looking forward to the trip! Alert, here I come.

This is an excerpt of the planning document and the measurements that I would like to perform:

Chemistry and photochemistry within the snow pack and at the air-ice-water interface are being recognised increasingly as significant contributors to air quality and cloud formation in the lower troposphere, with consequent impact on climate change. Numerous field studies in the last five years have identified the snow pack as a significant source of various chemical species.

This research program addresses the understanding of the emission of organic compounds from the snow pack and transformations at the air-water interface, including the impact of organic (photo-) chemistry. We will collect data on the exchange of VOC species between the atmosphere and snow and monitor the transformation of organic compounds in the snow pack by photochemistry to improve the description of atmospheric boundary layer processes.

Objectives include:
1. The quantification of VOC/semi-VOC in snow and in air. Particular attention will be paid to oxygenated molecules both in snow and air.

2. The measurement of organic aerosols with a multistage impactor for both chemical and (distorted) morphological analysis. Stages are fitted with aluminium substrates and hence direct scanning electron microscopy can be performed.

3. The measurement of bioaerosols in air and snow-embedded aerosols.

I now finish up the final tasks and deal with last minute problems before my departure. I have received all the necessary flight information and except for a few errands I have everything ready.

Last minute issues include modifications to a syringe cleaner, which I will use to recondition my SPME fibers, which keeps the GC injector port available for measurements. A more serious challenge is that the order for my snow density gauge was cancelled at the last minute and only after I phoned the supplier to tell him that my gear had not arrived. So I am trying to find other sources – with no luck so far.

I have already an alternative supplier for the waterproof notebooks, but not for the inclinometer and snow density gauge. So I will keep digging in the next couple of days.

Except for my personal stuff and some minor things all preparations for my field trip are now completed. Dangerous goods have arrived and also the first of two pallets with regular freight have already arrived at Alert.

Preparations included testing of instrumentation (GC, ultra-pure water system, MOUDI, pumps), pre-cleaning of glassware (ethanol rinsing, acid washing, drying, packing) and canisters (heating and flushing with He). Apart from that there are a lot of tools and spare parts that have to be taken care of especially for the GC, including fuses, a spare column and ferrules, because resources at Alert are extremely limited and nothing can be shipped after my arrival.

So complete and detailed lists are essential and I have tried to keep things up-to-date by maintaining lists during testing procedures and during discussions with experienced field workers.