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Reading Snowflakes Dispatches


A Rare Greenlandic Snow Penguin Sighting

NEEM CAMP, GREENLAND-- The question that I probably get asked most often (besides “did you see any penguins?”) about my trips to the poles is what evidence I’ve seen for climate change...



In the Trenches

NEEM CAMP, GREENLAND-- Over at the deep drilling site, work continues day and night. There are two shifts of drillers and core handlers who work around the clock...



Hello from NEEM!

NEEM CAMP, GREENLAND-- After yesterday's Herc flight from Kangerlussuaq on the coast to the NEEM drilling camp on the Greenland ice sheet in which we circled camp several times but were not able to land due to thick ground fog (and diminishing fuel!), today we were able to land at camp. Finally...



Welcome to Greenland!

KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND-- Today Kaitlin Keegan, a first year PhD student at Dartmouth College, and my field assistant, and I flew from Scotia, NY, to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, our first stop on the way up to the Danish deep drilling camp, NEEM...



Looking for Ozone Destroyers

SUMMIT CAMP, GREENLAND-- Drs. Jochen Stutz and Jennie Thomas from UCLA are up at Summit looking for halogens which could be contributing to the destruction of ozone, here at Summit and in other polar areas. The instrument they use for this is a large telescope...



Snow Oxidants

SUMMIT CAMP, GREENLAND-- Dave Tanner from Georgia Tech works on a project measuring various chemical species in the snow and in the air at Summit. It is a long way from Georgia up at Summit, but luckily Dave enjoys his work...



Meet a Meteorologist

SUMMIT CAMP, GREENLAND-- Meet Jeff Luxford, a graduate student working with atmospheric chemist and Summit veteran Dr. Jack Dibb. Before graduate school, Jeff worked as a meteorologist for five years, which comes in handy up at Summit when you're working outside all day...



Meet a PolarTREC Teacher

SUMMIT CAMP, GREENLAND-- Meet Craig Beals, a high school teacher from Billings, Montana, working primarily with snow photochemist Dr. Barry Lefer and his group, helping them to collect data...



Tethered Balloon Launch

SUMMIT CAMP, GREENLAND-- In this video dispatch, meet Dr. Craig Clements from San Jose State University, a micrometereologist studying the atmosphere above Summit with an interesting-looking piece of equipment...



Studying Sunlight

SUMMIT CAMP, GREENLAND-- In this video dispatch meet Dr. Barry Lefer, a professor at the University of Houston researching the amount of sunlight that penetrates the Greenland snowpack. This information helps photochemists understand chemical reactions in the snow...