It's alot like packing for a vacation. You need to balance the things you want to have with you with the things you need to have. The biggest difference is that for most vacations if you have forgotten something, you can usually purchase it. Naturally, when in these remote sites I cannot just walk down to the local store and buy some more mitts if mine are wet or not warm enough. While I can probably borrow some from other researchers, I'd rather just be prepared.
Below is a table of daily weather data for this month (April) at CFS Alert, NU. You can access this data, and data from many other locations in Canada, online at Enviroment Canada's National Climate Data and Information Archive. We can see that the temperatures have ranged between -34 and -1 degrees Celsius. However, with the wind chill, the temperature feelsmore like -50 to -10.
Naturally this means I'm going to need a lot of cold weather gear. Because we are doing in-situ measurement out on the ice and snow potentially for a whole day, my gear can get wet, the temperature can change, I will probably need backup pairs of clothes, extra mitts, etc.
The pictures below show the gear I am taking with me on Friday. I have already shipped some stuff to Yellowknife with the equipment (I sent along my winter jacket, ski pants, winter boots, gore-tec pants, and two large fleece jackets).
The key to staying warm is layers, we we have base layers, mid layer and outer layer (jackets, ski pants). However, when its cold you can add another mid layer (an extra sweater or fleece). In addition to clothing, we are required by the aircraft charter to carry a sleeping bag or blankets. Our stay in Resolute from May 1st to May 4th is at the Polar Continental Shelf Program Base, and blankets are not provided. While I have a really nice warm (-7 rated) mummy bag, I have opted to bring a smaller, lighweight bag which packs smaller and weighs less. Also as it is for indoor use, I'm not too worried about being cold (I can always through on more clothes if I am).
Canadian Forces Station Alert, where we are staying, is pretty luxurious from a field station perspective. There is hot water, laundry, food is cooked for you, a bed, a gymasium, bowling lane, movie room, and even a bar. The laundry facilities are especially nice because it means I can wear clean clothes (unlike where on the glacier I was allowed a similar amount of personal gear, but that had to last one month with no laundry and only a cold stream for bathing if you dared).
Well I think that is it for now. I am excited to go but also a little nervous, which will pass once I am there. I don't think the scenery will be quite as spectacular as my trip on the CCG Larsen last summer but I could be wrong. Of course I always miss Nicole and Jax, and wish that they could share in my adventures, but to me fieldwork is alot like a vacation. You go to a new, exciting place with wonderful scenery, you just have to work hard while you are there.
This blog post is quite long, don't fear they will be shorter in the future.
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