Over thirty minutes to the sites, stuffed in Qamutiks rattling over tundra and iced over ponds and then smooth snow between trees...we left at 9am and got back after 3pm.
We did snow measurements for three different sites. One was a Burnt Forest another was forest that was replanted after a burn and a the third, a Black Spruce Wetland. We had to struggle in knee deep snow to get to a couple of the sites, and let me tell you, a grown woman wailing and trying to breathe through freezing gasps of air is not a pretty sound.
All measurements are done in teams of two or three people. What we do is first we dig a pit then we measure its height and figure out how many different layers of snow are in it. Then we check what type of snow is in each layer (crystals, shapes, sizes and how flat or how intricate the shapes are). Next we measure how hard each layer is and then weigh samples of each layer. Finally, we do cores and Rams. This whole sequence is done twice at each site. Then we get back, with snow samples and measure their conductivity and PH and enter all the day's data into the system.
It can get really cold out there so you have to take walks every now and then to warm up, which for me usually means hopping about ungracefully in the deep snow and maybe falling over a few times. Ok... definately falling over, more than a few times.
We had lunch out in the field today because it was too far to go back and forth. My cheese and mustard sandwich wasn't completely frozen, which I guess is the nice way to remember it.
The ride back was a bit frosty which gets painful, but we couldn't help feeling satisfied at the amount of work we got done, especially since we didn't lose any fingers to the cold. Thankfully, the great research tech. here ( who does everything you can possibly think of and more) had an extra neck/face warmer that saved my nose from a freezing death today.
I even tried out some snow shoes which were fun, and clumsy, and pictures were taken to embarrass me later.
Tomorrow we go to a Tree Island where the pit we dig out might be higher/deeper/taller than any of us...I will try and get pictures.
I am writing this in between rushing in and out to watch the Northern lights fire up all across the sky...They are a pretty green right now, at 9:30pm. They should really get insane at around midnight, so says the Aurora expert who is giving a week's course here. But we are usually fast asleep by then.

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Here is a photo of a Husky Puppy you can enjoy. These are the fabulous creatures that pull the sleds here.

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