Daily comings and goings

This is a photo of the ARGO that pulls the water "pig" from the melter to the Big House. Our water source here is melted snow. The melter is a metal box that is attached to the diesel generator, and uses the heat from the generator to melt the snow. The melter box is filled by a small bulldozer. Once the 200 gallon pig is towed to the Big House, an electric pump transfers the water from the pig to the 400 gallon water reservoir in the Big House. This is the water we use for washing dishes, cooking, cleaning, drinking, showering, washing clothes, etc. The Big House goes through about 400 gallons a day. Because it is a bit of a pain to keep refilling the pig, we try to conserve water. We try to limit ourselves to one 2-min shower each week, and try to only wash our clothes only once every 2 weeks, since I think this is about 25 to 30 gallons.
Today was a great day for me, I took a shower, washed my clothes, and cut my hair. I feel like a new man.














This is Ryan, a camera man from Polar-Palooza. They are in the Arctic this summer filming and interview scientists for a 1 hour film and a series of educational podcasts. Check out their website to see what they have been up to: http://passporttoknowledge.com/polar-palooza/
Ryan and Geoff Hains-Stiles are visiting Summit to learn more about the science going on here and what is it like to live here at Summit. Should be exciting to see what they come up with.















Here is Jack Dibb putting away a snow sample. Jack is collecting daily surface snow samples and analysing the major cations and anions dissolved in the snow. I will be collecting some a couple of snow samples each week and send them to Cort Anastasio of UC-Davis. Cort will measure the dissolved organic compounds in the snow and also how much solar UV radiation they absorb. This will help me interpret my measurements of UV sunlight in the snow.














Here is a photo of Jochen Stutz (a professor at UCLA). This was Jochen's turn to be the "House Mouse". The mouse is responsible for doing all the breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes. As well as clean the tables, vacuum the carpet, clean the bathroom/shower, mop the kitchen and galley, restock the breakfast bar (bagels, cereal, muffins, juice), restock salt/pepper/napkins, help the cook, etc. This takes about all day. In my opinion, the best benefit of being the mouse is that you get to choose the music.