This week, I (Matt Gunsch) left Ann Arbor to begin my trip to Barrow, Alaska. In Barrow, we will be conducting a field campaign, funded by NOAA and DOE and in collaboration with Prof. Rebecca Sheesley's group from Baylor University , to study the atmospheric aerosols emitted during drilling within the Arctic. After stops in Seattle, Anchorage, and Prudhoe Bay, I arrived in Barrow on Wednesday!
The first few days have been spent becoming accustomed to the area and getting equipment set up in our lab located out on the tundra.
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| My home on the tundra for the next five weeks! |
After unloading all of the smaller crates and equipment, the first major challenge was moving our ~500 pound A-ATOFMS into the lab. The lab is located a couple hundred feet off of the road in the middle of the tundra, so this was not an easy task. The first step was to get the crated instrument into a truck and driven out to the lab. I've spent the last two years building our A-ATOFMS, so this was a big day!
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| Our mass spectrometer (the key to my PhD!) hanging over a puddle! |
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| The A-ATOFMS nearing the lab! |
Once the A-ATOFMS arrived at the lab, the challenging part was getting the instrument across the tundra and into the lab.
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| Close enough? |
We enlisted the help of the staff of UIC - Science, and with our combined strength and planning, the instrument made it! Thank you very much to everyone who helped safely move our instrument!
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| Removing the A-ATOFMS from the shipping crate. Lots of folks helping! |
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| The A-ATOFMS within a sled. The plan was to pull it across the boardwalk and tundra. |
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| Almost there... |
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| Made it to the lab! Now for that final step... |
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| Our original plans called for a ramp to just roll the instrument into the lab. When that was deemed unfeasible, we went with a more direct approach. |
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| After a long journey, the A-ATOFMS is comfortably resting within its new home. |
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