Oh The Drama

Well it has been quite dramatic here on the ice sheet the last few days. On June 7th, Dan and I were able to get the nitrate sampling up equipment up and running. We waited to turn on the sampling until the last C-130 flight left. Sampling started at 2:30 pm in the afternoon. Dan had not been feeling well on the 7th and was pretty tired after his first night sleeping in a tent. I took the first shift of babysitting the nitrate equipment to make sure it ran properly, to establish evaporation rates so we would know when to refill them and to watch for freezing. I was going to stay up until 2:00 am and then Dan would come on at 5:00 am. Around 1:00 am, Dan Skyped me to let me know he was not feeling well and was going to see the medic. I meet with Dan and the medic, Tyler, around 2:30 am on the 8th. I was told that Dan’s mouth was swelling from where his wisdom teeth had been removed, a requirement to come to Summit. At first we though he would be fine if he had some time off and some good sleep. I said I would take over Dan’s 5:00 am shift. I slept about 2.5 hours.

I stumbled out to Sat Camp at 5:00 am to find that some of the nitrate equipment had frozen. I fixed it and started sampling again. I went in for Breakfast at 8:00 am to find out that Dan was doing worse. By lunch there was talk of medical evacuation to Thule Air Force base. I called Eric and Julia at UW and filled them in on the situation.

I made it through the day checking the instruments every 3 hours managing a few 1.5 hours naps. After dinner I went back out to Sat camp. Katrine had volunteered to check our equipment through the night of the 8th so I could get a night’s sleep. I showed her how to fill our mist chambers and bubbler and thanked her profusely. I was looking forward to some sleep when they called me to the office on the radio. I walked back to camp to find out that an immediate medical evacuation had been called for Dan. The swelling in Dan’s mouth had continued and they were worried his throat could swell closed. A twin otter was scheduled to come in and pick him up.

There was still more drama, the twin otter pilots were in Nook which had 60 kts winds. The plane could not take off. Apparently the doors were almost blown off the hanger when they pulled out the plane. The plane was suppose to arrive at 11:00 pm on the 8th. It did not arrive until 5:00 am on the 9th. Kathy and Steve stayed up all night doing hourly weather observations for the plane while I got 5 hours of sleep. Kathy woke me up around 4:30 to let me know Dan was doing worse and the plane was arriving. I again stumbled out of my tent and stumbled some more on my way to the green house where I found Dan hooked up to an IV. I was told that Brad would fly with Dan to Thule air force base for medical treatment. I was glad that someone would be accompanying Dan. I walked with Dan out to the twin otter. I will post some great pictures later of Dan walking to the otter IV bag in hand. (Tyler the medic designated me the photographer for the evac so he could document it all.) The plane took off around 6:00 am and I headed out to Sat camp to check the instruments. I was exhausted. I knew I had to complete the sampling period which ended at 3:00 pm on the 9th. I took another 1.5 hour nap and couldn’t wait for 3:00pm. Finally 3:00 rolled around and I collected the samples and shut down the equipment. We had decided to shut down sampling so I could do my radar work. It is impossible to do both.

I came back to camp took a warm shower and put on fresh cloths. This made me feel much better. I had a good dinner and went to bed at 8:00 pm. I woke up today at 9:00 am. A great night’s sleep! I feel much better today and got the radar set up to do a pit tomorrow. Don’t worry though, because the drama has not ended. This evening after dinner the winds picked up to 30 kts. The snow is blowing like mad. If this weather continues there will be no pit tomorrow, too much blowing snow for the electronics.
What have I learned from this ordeal: it is not wise to take out your wisdom teeth to go to an ice sheet, never study anything that requires 24 hour sampling and, what I had already learned at Taylor Dome but am having drilled into me again, I HATE THE WIND. Feeling a little lonely on the ice sheet with out another UWer around. It is a first for me. Hopefully by my next post there will be a lot more data gathered and better weather.

Here is a picture of my tent with my skis outside. Hopefully when everything clams down I can use them a bit more.