I think a lot of people (especially students) have an idea that science is a class at school, and a scientist is someone who works only in a lab all by themselves. But one of the coolest things I want to share with people about this expedition is that science isn’t just a class – it’s a process, and a way of thinking, and a team effort.
I’m looking at our Expedition Booklet which outlines all the information we need – what to bring, who’s responsible for what, research activities, safety guidelines, etc. The first thing that is obvious is that everyone onboard is on a team, and each team has a designated team leader. Here are our teams who will try to figure out scenes like the one in the picture above (I’ll describe these more as we go along):
– Hydro
– Chem
– Meteo
– Ice
– Tech
– Admin
I’m imagining what it would be like to plan a trip to another planet, and all the different science fields and skills you would need to really get a handle on what you were exploring. And then I’m looking at this list of teams for the Arctic, and it makes sense that you need the same for the Earth. You still need smart people who know how to do a lot of things – operate specialized equipment, look at observations to figure out what’s going on, and then (shocker) talk to each other about what each team has learned. Imagine that.