Most students don’t like chemistry and some of them simply hate this subject. But we are not schoolchildren anymore. In our expedition there are people that love their work, and in particular the Chemistry team has amazed me. The people working there do their job with vim and vigor in their eyes. They take care of constructing the diagrams on the monitors with enthusiasm, even though they have seen it 100 (or more) times before!!! The scientists in the lab joke and talk all the time. Sergey Kirillov checked off depths of the CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) rosette instrument very closely as it rose through the water, because they need to take water samples from fixed levels: 2200meters, 2000meters, 1500meters, 1200meters, etc. The day I visited the lab I met Ksenia Artamonova, Anastasia Drozdova and Anna Nikulina, who were very funny and benevolent. These girls like their work! My teammate (Florence), who is American, worked in such a lab before and she helped me a lot by sharing a lot of her knowledge, showing me many of the instruments, and sharing different aspects of her own work.
Seeing them reminds me that I too like my profession very much. I realized this some years ago, when I enrolled in the geography faculty. When I enrolled in geography, I hoped that along with studying would also come a lot of beautiful and romantic traveling experiences. Many people – my parents, my friends –talked to me at that time and said to me that this feeling will pass quickly, but no, it has never passed and it will not pass! Never. Being a geography student and having the opportunity to travel and see the world made me fall in love with many of the places I saw and with this life, and now recently with the Arctic!
– Anna Gnevasheva
How or why did you become interested in The Arctic ?
Hi Jennifer, I have always been interested in seeing as much of the Earth as possible, although I have to admit that I never thought that I would be seeing the Arctic! I also think it’s so important to understand the polar regions, especially now, because of their relationship and influence on the global climate. So I’m so happy to be here for that reason. But it’s also so beautiful, literally out of this world!
Hello!
We are Miss Wolf’s 4th grade technology class from Amherst Elementary in Jackson Local Schools. We enjoy looking at your arctic pictures and reading about your experience. What experiment are you working on in this picture? What do your notes look like?
What is your most memorable learning experience so far? Do you eat the same foods in the arctic that you eat at home? What creatures have you seen living in the arctic? What things do you do in your free time? We would love to hear any other fun facts that you would like to share!
-Miss Wolf’s Technology Class
Hi Miss Wolf’s Technology Class, thanks for following along with me! There are so many experiments that we’re doing onboard, like taking measurements of the ice and finding out what the chemical make-up of water samples are. And there are so many cool instruments to help us measure these things. They provide food for us here (3 meals a day plus a snack), so I probably eat on a more regular basis here than I do at home – meals are usually meat and potatoes or pasta, and soup (although you can get a vegetarian option of you like). We have seen walruses, seals, some tiny fish, and what was probably the most exciting for most people – polar bears! They are hard to see, since they are white and the ice is white, but they were so cool to see (and so cute). We are pretty busy onboard, but in our free time, there is a ping pong table, and a sauna, and people also play cards or watch a movie on the computer. It’s really hard to pick a most memorable learning experience so far. But I think learning about the ice conditions and the water currents in the Arctic, and what they can tell us about climate, is so super cool. Just by observing and taking measurements of the ice (and weather around it), scientists can figure out things like when it formed (for example, by how thick it is), where it formed (for example, if there is sediment mixed in the ice, it probably formed near land – and then this also can tell you about the wind and water currents that moved the ice to where it is now), and how it formed (for example, if there are layers, cracks, or ridges, that might tell you how the ice has formed and moved over time). Here’s a fun fact for you – ice is not just one kind of thing. The World Meteorological Organization has defined 120 terms for different kinds and features of ice, in 11 different categories!
Hey Lindsay, I would like to know how much the temperature in the arctic changes (DAY/NIGHT).
Hi Xander, actually the temperature since we have been here for the last 3 weeks hasn’t changed by more than 7 degrees between day and night! The temperature is pretty constant over the season!
hey lindsay , i would like to know how have you overcame the obstacles you have faced during your profession ?
Hi Kayla, I think the best thing you can do in your career is to look for opportunities, and try your hardest to get a shot at those opportunities. If you look for internships, or unique study or work opportunities, or even special assignments wherever you may work, you get lots of experience that can help you in your career. I totally believe that opportunities (and working hard at those opportunities) creates even more opportunities. I can give you an example – this Arctic invitation for me came about because I had worked with the same organization that put together this expedition on a project in Antarctica a couple years ago. And they first asked me to work on that Antarctica project, because someone there had worked with me on an exhibit and education program at a Museum, and they saw that I was really enthusiastic about polar/climate science and education. So you never know where things may lead!