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Many Bruins equate summer vacation with lounging by a pool, cruising to the beach and soaking up the sun. For certain members of UCLA’s Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department, these months mean trudging through snow, battling Arctic winds and sleeping in unheated tents in sub-freezing temperatures.
During the past three years, researchers working with associate Professor Jochen Stutz have traveled every summer to Summit Camp, the highest point in the ice cap of Greenland, to perform a number of experiments on what is arguably the cleanest and purest air in the northern hemisphere.
This humble blogger was given the opportunity to join the Stutz group and participate in the Greenland field campaign.
Greenland is a popular research location because the background level of gaseous compounds in the atmosphere (that is, the level of pollution) is low; it is also a key spot for snow scientists and those studying climate change because the Greenland ice sheet, which covers about 80% of the island, is receding at a rapid rate. Thus, the National Science Foundation and a number of universities fund research in this isolated polar region.
Getting to the tallest peak in the Arctic, however, is no picnic.
It required three early mornings, which, for this particular night owl, was somewhat brutal. Our first destination was Stratton Air National Guard Base in upstate New York. The next morning, we took a military jet called a C130 (which is designed more to transport cargo than people ““ the C must stand for cramped) to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, the closest town to Summit Camp. Following that, we again awoke bright and early to fly to the camp itself, which sits at an elevation of 10,000 feet (keep in mind that our fair Los Angeles rests at 233 feet).
Flying to that severe an elevation without pausing during ascent has a number of undesirable effects, including migraines, nausea and dizziness. Luckily, even though I have rarely risen to very high locales, altitude sickness did not affect me for more than a day or so.
The climate, on the other hand, took a little longer to get used to, especially for someone whose last visit to the snow was in the 1990s.
Put simply, Greenland is freezing. Actually, below freezing would be more accurate. Daily summer temperatures range between -30°C to -5°C and the often powerful winds add an extra chill that made necessary my three jackets that initially seemed overly cautious.
Thankfully, a number of houses around camp are heated, including the Big House, which acts as the dining and social facility for our fellow researchers and the Summit staff, and the Green House, where the Stutz group spends most of its time working (luckily, office space isn’t as big an issue as it is for UCLA student groups, and we have a spacious room to ourselves).
The work we do centers around observations and measurements gathered by the two instruments our group has here ““ the MAX DOAS and the Long Path DOAS. Both instruments are a variation of a scientific technique called differential optical absorption spectroscopy.
This method sends a light beam of a certain intensity through the atmosphere. The light bounces off reflectors located various distances away and then returns back to its starting point. The light that returns has a lowered intensity due to absorption by a number of compounds present in our atmosphere, including bromide oxide and formaldehyde, two molecules our group is particularly interested in. Understanding the difference in intensities can tell us something about the amount of these substances in the air.
Other researchers at Summit perform different kinds of experiments in the snow and atmosphere. Scientists associated with the University of Houston launch tethersondes, or large balloons, to track meteorological data such as temperature, dew point and relative humidity. Researchers from the University of New Hampshire are determining what kinds of ions, or electrically charged particles, are present in Greenland’s snow through a process called ion chromatography.
In addition to working together, there are some interesting quirks to living in the Arctic. For example, tomorrow will be a big day for me: because all the water the camp uses must be melted from clean snow outside, residents are encouraged to shower only once every five or six days. That’s right, folks. After six long days here, I’ll finally get my long-awaited shower. Hallelujah!