Upland Ponds: Before and After

While I am based mostly out of McMurdo Station this year, I did make it out into the Dry Valleys for a couple of days to help with some reconnaissance on the upland ponds area.

Last year was a much warmer year than this year. When I was in the uplands last year, the ponds were very easy to spot.

This year snow stuck to the ground and is completely obscuring the ponds!


It's interesting to see how things change!

Mentally iced

Since my last post, I've been working on my research!

.... at least, I've been trying to get through the analytical portion of it before I leave for the Ice in December. Instrumentation troubles and distraction about, however. But such is science.

While I wait for the XRF (x-ray fluorescence) analyzer to be back up and running, I've been tasked by my advisor with a new dusty adventure. This time looking at soil profiles in Panama and seeing if there is any Saharan dust influence seen in the geochemical profile compared to bedrock. I'm still in the literature search stage, but it could prove interesting!

Unfortunately, my brain is already on the Ice. I'm working through the logistics of what I need to bring and what needs to happen before I go go go. This year, I'll be running a total organic carbon organizer instead of collecting samples, so I'll be in McMurdo more. We have a few sampling trips out to the Dry Valleys planned.



I'm excited!

Good news comes in high profile packages sometimes

About this time last year, my advisor told me that he thought I would be a good candidate for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The program provides stipend funding and tuition waivers for it's recipients.

In early April, I was notified that I had received the fellowship.

What's more, with the stimulus package that the NSF received from President Obama, they were able to award ~200 more fellowships than their usual ~900. In the second round, another from the School of Earth Sciences at OSU was chosen as well. The picture (above) shows Annette and I with the president of the university, Gordon Gee, at an undergraduate research forum earlier this year. Gee appears to have a photographic memory: I have seen him since and he remembers both my name and the fact that I received "the NSF."

Back in Action

It's been a while!

School hit me hard with full-to-bursting class loads and working on the research I'm here to do, but I have created a bit of time and have a few updates. Starting with this one!

On Monday, August 3rd, Thompson Library opened it's doors for the first time since I have been a student at Ohio State. This building is one of the major presences on the south oval (the major greenspace on campus), but has been being renovated. The inside is now six floors of quiet, bookish heaven. I'm looking forward to making ample use of it once classes start up in the fall!

Sledding

We had another ice-and-snow storm blow through. This is certainly an introduction to a northern winter. Apparently, it usually doesn't get like this until the end of February.

I experienced my first snow day yesterday. Ironically, the class I missed was glaciology. I still had to be on campus to run samples and attempt to catch up on some work, but my productivity was severely truncated by an introduction to the northern art of sledding. Also known as a practical experience in snow compaction.















I also made my third snow angel. Certainly in the most snow.

It was a nice change to the general weekday routine. I went out with a bunch of people later in the evening and sledded in a man-made ravine. I have the bruises to prove it, too.

Wintry Ways

We had our first big snowstorm since I've been back from the Ice. About four inches fell over the course of one day last week. Most of it piled up on my car, and I got my first crash course in winter driving.

Luckily, the Subaru is an ideal car for such conditions.

The temperatures have been far below freezing for the last couple of days. Thursday and Friday the highs were maxing out at about 10^oF/-12^oC.



I still haven't found a winter coat, but that will be happening shortly. Those bitterly cold days were a bit of a stretch for this Florida girl, even with the sheer number of layers I managed.

School started, as well. Glaciology is a bit of a bear simply because of all the work involved. Paleoclimate will be picking up in the work-respect soon. They are both absolutely fascinating. There is also a lot of conceptual material overlap, which makes it even better. Same goes with my Carbon and Climate class. It's nice to be back to a routine.