Day 7

Today we started off by presenting our results from the previous day. We also did a quiz to see if we could remember everyone’s names. I was able to get all of them. The agenda for today consisted of learning more about GPS technology. We were then put into groups and given a GPS and a NSF International Polar Year Patch. We were supposed to hide the patch somewhere around town and record the coordinates to create our own geocache. My group, Team Pink, decided to hide our patch near the musk ox head that Robbie had showed us the other day. We ended up putting the patch inside the mouth of the musk ox. With the rest of our time we went by the grocery store. They have these Danish drinks that taste basically like a melted milkshake. They had chocolate ones today so I got that along with a can of Pringles. They are a nice supplement to the meals we get.

            We then went back to the school for lunch and to get the coordinates and clues for the other groups’ patches. The hint for ours was: “On the tip of the tongue”. We were each given post-it flags to stick on the patches as we found them. My group set off and we were the first group to the first three patches we found. The various hiding spots included near a pirate flag, in some bushes, by an old building, and by the river. After a lot of running around and a Coke break, we ended up being first to four of the patches and third to the last. That meant we were the winners and we each got one of the coveted patches. After everyone got back, we spent some time learning about how GPS systems work. They receive signals from satellites. The satellites use atomic clocks to send signals simultaneously at the exact same time. Depending on how long it takes to receive the signals from the various locations, the location can be determined. A GPS is an important tool for scientific fieldwork since it allows you to record an exact location.

            We then met in our research groups for the first time to figure out what our project would be for the next few weeks. I am in the atmospheric group with Emil (Denmark), Tupaarnaq (Greenland), and Ellen (Greenland). We decided we are going to study atmospheric variation in arctic microenvironments.  We are going to see how the atmosphere differs in different areas such as ones with vegetation, water, and ice. Over the next couple weeks we will be doing atmospheric tests including carbon dioxide, UVA, UVB, temperature, and albedo (a measure of light reflection off a surface), as well as water quality tests. I’m not really sure what we will find, but as the scientists keep telling us, most research isn’t done with a solid idea of what the process of results will be like. Other groups are doing research on water quality, musk ox, and the body’s reaction to extreme environments.

            After dinner, we stopped to play on the playground. We ended up organizing a soccer game. A group of Greenlandic kids came and started watching us. They didn’t like my team, however. They named the other team Winner Team and my team Loser Team. I played goalie and after a bunch of really lucky saves on my part, we lost track of the score and called it a day as the mosquitoes were starting to swarm us. We played Bananagrams and spent awhile coloring some American flags for the Fourth of July. We soon realized how difficult the American flag is to draw and people who were not American made some of the better flags. 

Our hiding place

Team Pink with our patches

Making some flags during craft time