"Alone", but employed, in Greenland? - Page 2

LAsam · #21 Posted **Jun 15, 2021, 12:04 AM**

This thread is so great. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of work do you do/what kind of research is being done?

SIGSEGV · #22 Posted **Jun 15, 2021, 12:46 AM**

I made it to summit, but haven't uploaded any photos yet (and they'll be small to conserve bandwidth).

re: cars, not sure! the NSF / ANG cars may be US and the locals euro-spec?

re what I do, I am a physicist (particle astrophysics) and we are deploying some detectors here.Will expand later.

Boisebro · #23 Posted **Jun 18, 2021, 3:02 PM**

fantastic thread, but it needs more Vizzini.

edale · #24 Posted **Jun 21, 2021, 10:41 PM**

I can't imagine living in such a place. Looks hellish, tbh. Thank you for sharing the photos, though!

DetroitSky · #25 Posted **Jun 24, 2021, 5:43 AM**

This is so fascinating. Have you been to any other unusual/remote locations for work?

mousquet · #26 Posted **Jun 24, 2021, 5:56 PM**

^ I can remember, he posted an Antarctica picture thread on here.
The only such thread ever seen on the forum.
I have a pretty good, selective memory when it comes to unusual things, but Idk where the thread is gone. It must go years back.

I hope you can figure where Antarctica is. It is the most remote and coldest continent in the world.
The guy just must work for scientific missions.

robk1982 · #27 Posted **Jul 1, 2021, 1:02 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAsam

Greenland! Is this a SSP photo first? Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to seeing more from your trip.

Definitely not a first. I posted some in my Voyage of the Vikings thread in 2018, and there might be some other threads.

Great pictures, btw! Looks extremely similar to Qaqortok and Nanortalik.

Pedestrian · #28 Posted **Jul 1, 2021, 2:37 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I'm disheartened to hear that even Greenland has mosquitos. I was hoping there was some place I could get away from them.

Why not? Alaska has terrible ones.

Pedestrian · #29 Posted **Jul 1, 2021, 2:51 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mousquet

^ I can remember, he posted an Antarctica picture thread on here.
The only such thread ever seen on the forum.
I have a pretty good, selective memory when it comes to unusual things, but Idk where the thread is gone. It must go years back.

I hope you can figure where Antarctica is. It is the most remote and coldest continent in the world.
The guy just must work for scientific missions.

One of these days I'll have my 1970s Antarctic slide collection digitized and post another Antarctic thread. Meanwhile this will have to do:

SIGSEGV · #30 Posted **Jul 24, 2021, 5:07 PM**

Well, I'm back in Chicago now. Did not have the bandwidth (mental or internet) to post anything from Summit Station. As I regain strength from 5+ weeks of non-stop work with little sleep, I'll post some pictures. Starting with this one.

craigs · #31 Posted **Jul 24, 2021, 8:16 PM**

Welcome back!

SIGSEGV · #32 Posted **Jul 25, 2021, 3:10 AM**

Overview of Summit Station from my drone (I'm standing on the skiway, not a controlled runway obviously):

The plane we came in on (propellers still running, they dare not turn it off at this altitude/temperature):

A plane caught during landing (these are LC-130's, run by the 109th Air National Guard out of Scotia, NY. In late August they begin the journey south to Antarctica):

Pondering the vastness of the Ice Sheet from a walk along the skiway:

I don't know how to verify this claim, but this is supposedly the Tucker used in the filming of the terrible movie "White Out." This is about 10 km north of station while I was testing the coverage of the cell phone network I installed. Ironically given the shirt I was wearing, this (~10 km north of Summit Station) is the farthest I've ever been from the South Pole. My attempt to go to both the South Pole and Greenland in the same year was foiled by COVID, so ~18 months separates -90 S and ~72.65 N.

A picture of the main building, the Big House, which functions as galley, office and lounge, during condition 1 (30-40 kt winds, terribe visibility):

More to come.

xzmattzx · #33 Posted **Jul 25, 2021, 4:50 AM**

Nice!

SIGSEGV · #34 Posted **Jul 25, 2021, 4:57 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DetroitSky

This is so fascinating. Have you been to any other unusual/remote locations for work?

This is my second time at Summit. Also spent about a month at McMurdo (and the nearby Long-Duration Balloon Facility on the Ross Ice Shelf) and a few weeks at the South Pole. Also have an experiment in the White Mountains of California (not nearly as exotic, but at 12,700 ft, higher altitude than Summit's 10,500' or Pole's 9,300'). And in grad school I had an experiment in a salt mine / nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad NM... mines are awful, I don't recommend them.

craigs · #35 Posted **Jul 25, 2021, 5:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Pondering the vastness of the Ice Sheet from a walk along the skiway:

Amazing. The only time I saw something so vast and empty was when I ventured out into the Black Rock Desert during Burning Man. And that last picture is like Ice Planet One.

SIGSEGV · #36 Posted **Jul 25, 2021, 6:16 PM**

The skiway (after a ton of drifting... lots of grooming had to be done to make it usable again):

Some cool effects off the radome:

The "Temporary" Atmospheric Weather Obervatory (TAWO), which NSF decided to rename to AWO this season.

The Big House, the "Flarm" (a former underice lab facility for some bio stuff, but now filled with bunks and where I slept), the "Caboose" (maybe was part of a traverse at one point?) and the Fish Hut village. Most of the station population was housed here, except for a few people in the berthing mod.

Sundog over the Summit Mobile Garage (SMG) and the berthing mod (there are a few other things down in the hole you can't see that were being demolished)

SIGSEGV · #37 Posted **Jul 25, 2021, 6:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigs

Amazing. The only time I saw something so vast and empty was when I ventured out into the Black Rock Desert during Burning Man. And that last picture is like Ice Planet One.

Yes, it's a lot like the South Pole but maybe even more so since this is the apex of the Ice Sheet so you can probably see a little farther around, it's a lot smaller a facility, and there is way more weather than the South Pole which adds some interesting contrast.

itom 987 · #38 Posted **Jul 25, 2021, 8:10 PM**

What a stunning thread! Thanks for sharing.

plinko · #39 Posted **Jul 25, 2021, 11:48 PM**

So unique and foreign to most of us. Thanks so much for sharing.

How long till the ion cannon is operational so you can protect against attack?

SIGSEGV · #40 Posted **Jul 26, 2021, 12:37 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by plinko

So unique and foreign to most of us. Thanks so much for sharing.

How long till the ion cannon is operational so you can protect against attack?

Practice shot: