August 16- Welcome back to school!

First, I would like to welcome my second-grade students back to Watershed School in Fairbanks, Alaska. Have a wonderful two months with Ms. Drumm! I am going to miss the excitement of the beginning of the school year- seeing how much all of the Watershed students have grown, and catching up with my colleagues to hear about the exciting things they did over the summer!

We are now anchored on the Devina River outside of Arkhangelsk waiting for more logistics to be figured out.

Embarking on an Arctic expedition takes an incredible amount of teamwork in order to be successful. One part of the team, besides the scientists, is the mooring technicians. Mooring technicians are responsible for preparing and helping with the deployment of the Ice-Tethered Profiler (ITP). The ITP can repeatedly measure properties of the ice-covered Arctic Ocean for up to three years.

Members of the mooring team include Ian Waddington (leader), Jim Dunn, Chris Basque and Till Baumann. Jim and Chris are from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). WHOI is located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and specializes in advancing the frontiers of ocean knowledge. Jim has worked at sea for 30 years and is the storyteller of the group. His job on the ship is to help Ian deploy and recover the ITP. Chris has a degree in mechanical engineering, with a minor in ocean engineering. Chris enjoys his job because it is ‘hands-on’, and he gets to travel the world. When the two are not busy helping Ian, they help others with whatever needs to be done.

Breakfast: bread, meat, cheese, and butter

Lunch: barley vegetable soup, fish Olympia, potatoes and mixed green salad

Tea Time: hamburgers and peaches

Moira’s first grade students last year. Today they started their first day of second grade!