NSF PA/M 03-46 - October 24, 2003
Note About
Images
Photo 1
The Snow Science Traverse-Alaska Region (Snow STAR) team, their snowmobiles, and sleds. The covered sled is heated and houses the computers used in a number of tests done on the snow at each station.
The SnowSTAR team left Nome, Alaska in March of 2002 to conduct a 35-day snowmobile traverse to scour the Alaskan tundra for clues to the role snow cover plays in climate change. The team analyzed the chemistry and composition of snow along the route to determine the source of the snow, and how much it has been affected by arctic haze.
Photo Credit: National Science Foundation
Photo 2
Chemical sampling of snow layers. Two classes of samples were taken along the route of the SnowSTAR traverse. Here, ultra-clean procedures are in use because these samples will be analyzed for trace elements and metals.
Photo Credit: National Science Foundation
Photo 3
In late July 2002, the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy moved through waters that were relatively free of broken ice during the Western Shelf-Basin Interactions research cruise off Barrow, Alaska.
Photo Credit: Peter West / National Science Foundation
Photo 4
A jumble of ice. In just a few days, ice conditions and extent varied widely as the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy moved northward over its cruise track from Barrow, Alaska during the 2002 Western Shelf-Basin Interactions research cruise. Here the sea is covered with broken fragments of sea ice, which forced researchers must be cautious when placing scientific instruments over the Healy's side.
Photo Credit: Peter West / National Science Foundation
Photo 5
Jackie Grebmeier, of the University of Tennessee, the co-chief scientist for the Western Shelf-basins Interactions research cruise carefully prepares samples fresh from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean for transport to the ship's lab.
Photo Credit: Peter West / National Science Foundation
Photo 6
Assisted by a member of the Healy's crew, Stephane Plourde, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, fends off ice flows to retrieve the sampling net during the Western Shelf-Basin Interactions research cruise off Barrow, Alaska. Long hours and hard work are elements of any scientific research cruise.
Photo Credit: Peter West / National Science Foundation
For related images of NSF's North Pole Environmental Observatory, see: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/ma0329.htm
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