First internet link to the North Pole.
First live and interactive Webcast Video from the North Pole.
First virtual participation by students in NASA artic field work via the internet.
Placing a piece of the exact South Pole at the exact North Pole.
First phone call between the North Pole and South Pole.
What is contained in these pages is a log of the event from the time they took off from Philadelphia on April 19th through April 26th when left Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada and returned.
Tim Roberts, Supervisor of Technology
Joel Berger, Technology Education Teacher
Shannon Adams, Principal of school at Resolute Bay
We departed from Philadelphia International Airport at 5:30PM. We arrived in Minneapolis at about 9:00PM where we hooked up with the folks from NASA. We then change planes and arrived in Edmonton Canada at 11:00PM. It took us about an hour to pass through Canadian Customs. We were able to store our gear and equipment with Canada Air overnight. We meet up with Ed Hudson from the Arctic Weather Center, Environment Canada. He got us set up at the Nuski hotel where we spent the night.
We got up early the next morning and went out to the Environment Canada offices to see what Ed Hudson and his team at the Arctic Weather Center are doing with weather forecasting and satellite imaging. He told us that the last sunrise in Resolute was April 19th and the first sunset in Resolute would be on August 14th. The weather map he is holding in the picture is created using their software and printed to a large format plotter. They will be doing the weather briefing for the NASA team as they head to the North Pole. To see additional images from the morning visit click HERE.
We started out the day at Ozzies hotel at 7:00am. You have to eat at designated times. Breakfast from 7-8, lunch from 12-1, and dinner from 6-7. Miss these times and you don't eat. There is one store in town. It's the CoOp. Sort of a general store and center of commerce. The cost of living is very high but, the people here are very happy with jobs in government, hunting & fishing, tourism, and mining.
The team spent the rest of the day setting up equipment and getting ready for our first WebCast with RedCloud school in South Dakota. We had some of the students from the school come out to the weather station and the WebCast went off at 2:00pm. This test of the equipment helped us make changes to improve the WebCast for the next day.
Later in the day at 5:45 we all crammed ourselves into one room and finally got to our e-mail via TILT communications satellite. I had a chance to update the web pages on our site and then we rushed off to dinner. That evening we tied up some lose ends and spent some time at the house talking and getting things organized for Thursday.
For more images from the day click HERE.
We got going early packing up the ECOM equipment at the weather station and moving it to the school for the WeCast. Shannon Adams, the principal of the school worked closely with the students and our team to get everything ready. At 11:00am we were up and running with the WebCats starting around 11:10. The students that logged into the chat had great questions and after the students in the school got over their shyness they too had some good questions. We were told that this was most of the students' first exposure to the internet. I can't imagine what they must have been thinking with all these people from NASA, video equipment and big blue boxes all over the place.
After the WebCast we had a quick lunch went back out to the airport to finish setting up the GPS antenna and receiver the North Pole team will be using. It was decided that the next WebCast would be from the ice. So there was equipment to move, snowmobiles to rent, tents to put up, and holes to be drilled for sonar testing. Some of the team will be sleeping on the ice tonight and Web Casting tomorrow. There is much going on behind the scans now preparing for the trek to the North Pole.
There are some team members riding around in the back of a pickup truck this afternoon trying to send jpeg images to a server at Goddard. Then later when TILT comes up they will transfer those images to the web sight. Portable computing at Resolute Bay, Canada.
For more of the children click HERE.
Today the big event was the WebCast from the ice in Resolute Bay. A few good men from our team went out on the bay last night and set up camp on the ice. The idea was to test the camping equipment and the communications equipment under severe cold conditions. It is important to know if the electronics will work in extreme cold conditions. The thinking is that if it won't work here in Resolute it will never work at the North Pole. The good news is that it worked very well and about 5 schools along with several guests logged into the Chat and an unknown number were watching the WebCast. The questions were great and the event was successful.
Some of the background on this event includes the cold weather the team survived to test this equipment. They used hand and foot warmers to warm some of the smaller equipment. The larger electronic equipment was warmed using heating pads and a set of three small flood lights. The small dish in the picture found the satellite o]at only 4 degrees above the horizon.
The event took place about 3 miles out into the bay. We got the team and the equipment out to the site on large sleds attached to snowmobiles. The senior students from the school joined us and many told us that the ice was dangerous. Seems they expect the ice to begin breaking up any time now. I was wondering why 7 foot thick ice would break up when the temperature is still well below zero. It has to do with the suns angle and the salinity of the water.
For more images related to the WebCast and the ice drilling click HERE.
The weather turned bad overnight and we have a WebCast with the Exploratorium in San Francisco this morning. We thought we had tested the equipment and ourselves yesterday but, today we took another step to doing difficult things under impossible circumstances. After breakfast we loaded the van and headed up the mountain to the water tower to set up for the WebCast. The wind was blowing hard and the the snow was flying. The temperature was -9F and the winds were blowing at about 35 mph. We were guessing that the wind chill was somewhere around -42F. We should have had a clue as to the severity of the conditions when we saw none of the regular activity in the streets of the town. Even the locals had taken cover but, we had to prove we could do this at the North Pole and we did. Even in these conditions we were able to WebCast for about 45 minutes.
Our first problem was finding the satellite at 4 degrees on the horizon. Seems we had a small hill in the way and needed to move about a quarter mile down the mountain to get a clear view of the satellite. Then we experienced some cold conditions that cut the life of our cam corder batteries in half. They say that people in the north are nothing if not flexible. Shannon brought some of the older students up to the broadcast to talk with the people at the museum in San Francisco. Right after their interviews we called it quits. They told us that we were in very dangerous conditions that were falling apart very quickly. So we packed up as fast as we could and headed back into town for lunch.
Some of the team that will be heading up to the North Pole went out to the Airport to rent some gear and check their weight for the flight to Eureka. Later in the day they went back to get a lesson in how to put up the tent and run the stoves. They will again sleep out tonight testing their grit and cold weather survival skills. Out on the ice yesterday we thought we were finally starting to acclimate to the cold. Today we found out what cold weather can do and how fast it can happen. I wish our brave NASA North Pole team the best weather and a safe journey.
For more images relating to our Cold weather WebCast from today click HERE. That's Chris our logistics expert on the trip walking out onto the hill next to the WebCast site.
Joel Berger and Shannon Adams went for a snowmobile ride up the mountain and around resolute taking pictures yesterday. It was a perfect day with no wind and bright sunlight. It was warm for Resolute this time of year. Click HERE to see the images from the trip.
This must be bonus day here in Resolute or perhaps I've been abandoned here at the Weather Station for too long. Click HERE for more pictures of the activities out at the airport and the Glacier Shelf Project staging area.
The weather has not improved and the road between town and the airport is closed due to drifting. This makes it very difficult to get all our gear to the airport for the flight out to the North Pole tomorrow. The news is that they will open the road later today. Even God rested on the seventh day. So we'll sit around the cabin gathering all the gear together and waiting for the all clear. Then we'll be staging at the Arctic Shelf Project hangers. It is not clear yet whether we will get time for web page and e-mail today.
Elizabeth Arnold from NPR (National Public Radio) arrived yesterday and began interviewing Mike and some of the other members of the team. She will be traveling with us to the North Pole. The team plans to hook up with Shirkees Aspirations expedition and spend one night at the pole. Monday they will overnight at Eureka. Tuesday they will land as close to the North Pole as possible and walk the rest of the way in. There is a WebCast Tuesday from the Pole but, the time is not clear now. They will overnight at the Pole and WebCast the next day just before they leave to go back to Eureka. They will spend one more night in Eureka and travel back to Resolute. Check the North Pole site for updates on the schedule.
There is a lot of activity, meeting and last minute preparations coordinating and staging the North Pole event. Later today there will be another flurry of activity gathering everything together at the airport for tomorrows departure.
The image to the right is our little house and the van we have been using to get around. Click HERE form more on our Day of Rest.
Click HERE for a little tent adventure.
The weather does seem to have improved some over the last two days. The wind has died down a bit and the roads are passable again. Today the 6 person NASA crew took off on the first leg of their North Pole expedition. They will fly to Eureka today and over night there. Tomorrow that will fly to the North Pole landing as close as they can to the exact pole. The team will spend the night at the pole and fly out the next day back to Eureka. Click HERE for more images from the departure.
While at the pole they will be measuring ice thickness, Ozone, the shape of the Earth and doing at least one WebCast from the Pole. The WebCast for Tuesday is scheduled for 12:30pm to 3:30pm. The team would like to receive as many scientific questions as possible that day. So log into the chat and ask questions. The next WebCast will be from 4:00pm to 6:00pm on the 28th. We are not sure at this time where that WebCast will originate.
The five of us that are left here in Resolute Bay are going to be setting up a small network out at the Weather Station using our TILT system and some of the new iMac computers from the school. Tomorrow some of the students will bring there web pages out to the Weather Station and upload them to the SASD web server. They will then spend some time over the next few days exploring the internet during the COM times we have set up for them. This will be their first high speed experience with the internet.
We will be taking off for Edmonton tomorrow at about 6:00pm and arrive back in Philadelphia on Wednesday at 4:45pm. We will miss the students and the people of Resolute. They have opened their town and their hearts to us. We all want to thank then for their hospitality.
Lowell A.Tinner, Superintendent of Souderton Schools for his support.
The Souderton School Board for their support of the You Be The Scientist Project and Technology in the schools.
Stan Wisler, Business Manager and my direct supervisor for allowing me to be part of this great expidition.
Dale Burkhard, Principal Indian Valley Middle School for his enthusiasm and support.
The staff and students at Indian Valley for their participation in the events.
The Technology staff at Souderton for making it all happen back in the district including:
David Flanagan, Networking Systems Administrator and Rob Dolan, Hardware/Software Support Technician
My wife, Lisa and my son Sam for allowing me to go away for so long.
Joel's wife Pat and his son Ryan for allowing him to go away for so long.
And all the folk back in Souderton for all the great e-mail and participation in the WebCasts.
Elementary Schools: E.M.C / Franconia / Lower Salford / Salford Hills / Oak Ridge / West Broad Street