Here I am at 3am once again. Wrapped up a little packing, but there is still much more to go. Keeping the GB running until midday Wednesday to correspond with a couple overflights that are taking place as part of the ARCTAS program (sorry, too tired to do a link, so you'll have to look for it yourself)

I'm definitely ready to go, as it's now been more than 5 weeks up here. I can't wait to get a day or two to myself instead of having to watch instruments and do other things all day long. I figure I've been putting in 14-hour days on average...while most of the time there isn't too much exertion involved it's still draining. At least the 24-hour sun has kept me charged up. I feel real good for someone who has had about 12 hours of sleep over the past 3+ days.

Some teachers and a few students showed up today, which would have been exciting enough but the plane needed to use rockets to help it get off the soft runway. Of course I was working and didn't have my camera with anyway so no pics from me. I'm hoping to get a couple from someone else and if I do I'll post them. I had to give a brief talk about what I'm doing up here to the people. Three small groups of folks who had just deplaned and were doing their best to be interested. I'm planning to be out and about more later today, so I'll document some of the activity as I spend my last day at Summit. In the meantime, here are some more images:

A portion of the tangled mess I had to clean up today...I had already removed a couple things before getting the idea to document it.

The ability to make quality snow steps...yet one more of my talents. I'll wrap up with a couple shots of ice that built up during our brief period of fog and southwest winds. I didn't have a good item to use for scale reference, just my small stick drive. Have a good night/day -Jeff

I have set up a time to go dig a snow pit (about 5 hours from now), but I had to stay up late and try to get the Gray Box running smoothly so now I'm in a bind of 2am sunshine and fatigue.  It seems that the best thing for me to do is post a few things that I've learned during the past month since I need to do something while having a snack.

-->First off, I'm a little disappointed in myself that I didn't notice that one usually can't see one's breath when exhaling.  I just didn't think much about it and there are times when it's visible, but in most cases there aren't enough particles for the water vapor to condense on...as one who has spent his winters in northern climes, I think that it is "cool" to experience this.  Luke, a particle guy from UNH, mentioned it to me...I've found it to be a way to see how much camp air is drifting over the science area at Sat Camp.

-->An odd thing about the science people that I've met while up here is that most are from the southern half of the country.  There are researchers/students from Georgia Tech, the University of Houston, University of California-Irvine, and San Jose State (CA)...in fact, the only other northerner I can think of is Craig, the teacher from Montana.  I suppose that more pollution and worse air quality is a good reason for atmospheric chemistry to be focused in those areas.  I do enjoy seeing some of them experience a little cold.  One student really enjoyed shoveling, a couple others have the heaters turned up way too high, and the gear that some of them are sporting is quite intense.  There's a lot of North Face and Patagonia gear that won't see much use after next week...then there's me, who is probably the only person up here with a winter coat that has a busted zipper and a hiking boot that broke a hook (now being held on by a zip tie):

No hardship though, since they still serve their purpose.  If my grandpa were around, I know he'd get a kick out of it.

-->I've had an appreciation for the difficulty that asthma brings to a person's daily life, especially during those times when my mom is really suffering.  Still, it is quite another thing to feel similar discomfort myself.  I didn't have it too rough at first and managed to avoid getting a headache or other altitude-related symptom, but the diminished oxygen is something one can't avoid.  It's been a month now and I feel pretty good, but there are still times when I slow my breathing down too much and have to work to get O2 back into my system.  This is particularly true when trying to fall asleep at night, but even walking out to Sat Camp can lead to a couple gasps if my breathing's off.  I have worked myself up to jogging the path...slowly improving from a gasping 4:30 for the 1/2 mile distance to under 4 minutes.  May not seem like it, but that's pretty good given the conditions and that I'm wearing hiking boots and a winter coat.  (yes, it did cross my mind that I might be a little too active for the type of footwear I have and that may have been a big part in the rivet failure).

-->It's late, even for me, so I'll wrap up by saying that there's a lot more for me to learn during the next week.  I was planning on making this longer, but I still haven't gotten around to all the little places in camp because I've been busy with my own stuff.  I'll fix that in the next few days.  I'll throw out a couple pics from the pit and some shots of the other instruments that are toiling away in this extreme environment.  In the meantime, here are a couple recent photos as I bid you good night.  -Jeff

Bonnie and Katrine, a couple of those wacky southerners really getting into the snow/ice removal from the Sat Camp doorway

The closest thing I've seen to a sunset in the past month

The logistics for this beer run would probably make any story you have pale in comparison.  Needless to say, Craig's a happy guy that it worked out.

Lastly, a different Craig prepping a radiosonde for launch.  He was kind enough to let me have the honors, but unfortunately my camera's video file is not a type that I can post here.  You'll either have to ask to see it in person or just take my word for it  : )

A full one-third of the Danish parliament showed up for a whirlwind 1-hour tour+breakfast on Wednesday, but I wasn't involved with the meet and greet. A high school science teacher from MT, who was chosen to participate in this research campaign by PolarTrec, has a little more insight if you're curious.

Additionally, there is a group of individuals who are driving across most of Greenland to gauge whether or not it would be feasible and practical to resupply Summit by land instead of air. Craig has to do a lot of reporting, I'll let him tell the story since I was too busy working to make the walk back to the Big House.

Pushing 230 again, so there is only time for a few photos and then it's off to icy slumber. If you are sick of the pillar/sundog shots, then feel free to tune out now. (I just can't get enough of them, so I'll keep taking photos) To give you an idea of how vivid the colors are, the third shot was from indoors and I'd say brighter than most of the rainbows I've seen.

To cap this off, I'll switch gears and show off some temporary art that I created after dinner tonight...yup, I'm still trying to have fun up here:) -Jeff

Haven't had a new photo in a couple days, so here's one of the sun after I got back:

So talking about Greenland's national holiday last time makes me think I should follow up on how it was handled up here. Unfortunately I missed out on the main event due to my need to work. I did get back to the Big House for dinner, which included lobster tails, center cut steaks, garlic mashed potatoes, and some other good stuff. This was a special meal, but we do eat real well up here on a daily basis. I haven't gone around and taken notes on all the offerings, but I can show you what we had for dinner a week ago Friday (the day it was my turn to wash dishes and clean up around the place):

(apologies to the current camp cook, whom I caught off guard when she turned around to cut just as I snapped this photo) A wonderful roast on the left, potatoes and other veggies, some crusted tofu, a hot mushroom dish with pastry crust, and of course a big salad.

As for Saturday night, there was the typical fun and some more unusual stuff like hanging from the ceiling drinking out of a rubber chicken

Well maybe I'll venture out into the cold after all. I figure a few hours of sleep would probably be a good idea since this will be a busy week. There are people leaving Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but many more are coming on Tuesday. I heard there will be 50+ people here for a couple days and some Danes are still scheduled to pass through too. That's it for now. Hope you're well and feel free to let me know if that's the case. -Jeff

Left side is the back end, right side is the front...the syringe pump on the right failed this afternoon, so that was the cause for about 8 hours of consternation. The box itself is over 5 feet tall, but there isn't a whole lot to the analytical system. There are air and water pumps, IC columns for the samples, and syringes (with pumps) that inject the samples and can move water around. I like the old-fashioned push buttons (yellow numbers) and toggle switches. Having said that, I was not happy to have spent most of the day sitting around watching Luke trying to get the system up and running. (He is a PhD candidate at UNH and was up at Summit doing this work last year, so he has to make sure I can function after he leaves next week.)

Well, long story short is that it was a software problem and the syringe got to a position it didn't like and just sat there grinding away any time another command was input. Things are back up now and I've been checking on the temperature remotely for the past hour. Unfortunately it's almost 3AM yet again and I am the last one in the Big House. I do enjoy the quiet time by myself, but I really should be getting more sleep. There's a big soccer match this evening, with the teams divided up age-wise. I just missed the cut and get to be the youngest on the old team instead of oldest on the young team...should be interesting. I'll try to get a picture or two posted.

Let me know if you have any specific questions. I was thinking of doing a Q&A post later this week to cover some of the things that people have already asked about. Now that it's after 3, I'll wrap up with a few more pics. Top two are from Summit, the bottom left is meltwater from the ice sheet that I saw during my layover at Kangerlussuaq and the name of the hotel where I spent the night before heading to Summit. Hope you are well. -Jeff

The pen in front is for scale. A liquid sample is placed in the small brown bottle to the left of the pen, drawn into the system by a syringe pump at the back of the box, and then sent through either an anion (negative charge) or cation (positive charge) column. Fortunately it isn't as complicated as it looks and I won't make it sound too technical. Luke, the other UNH student who is up here for a few weeks and training me on everything, summed it up to me by saying that we are basically glorified plumbers. In a sense it's accurate, since my biggest responsibility is to get the liquid from one end of the system to the other. The internal pressure is generally from 1500 - 2000 psi, so leaks can and do happen, but I don't have to worry about making integral parts.

Here are a couple more pictures to fill out this post.

Here's the view out of the back door of the building after most of the drifting was done. I'll leave you with a cool shot from outside so those of you sweltering in summer heat can cool off for a bit.

I see now that it's around 2am, so that should be it for me...as usual, there will be more to come. -Jeff

This is the larger building that you can see in the distance from 'The Big House' (as seen previously). I get to hang out in the lower right-hand corner of this frame. Here's a direct shot of one of the ion chromatography systems that has been confounding me:

I'll get a shot of the innards tomorrow...

The other spot I spend most of my time is a little way beyond this building. Here's what it looked like through the back door this evening:

It's the "building" on the right. In case you were wondering, it was as cold as it looks in this photo. In fact, I almost got frostbite on all 10 of my fingers tonight. Part of my job description is to collect surface snow samples twice a day. This requires using 2 pair of thin poly gloves, scraping up snow using a sqaure of plastic, and using a funnel to put in in a 175 ml bottle that I washed a couple months ago. Well, those glove are not very warm and after handling and filling 3 bottles tonight (doing this in the 'clean' area), I ran back indoors and used anything I could find to warm up my fingers. They were all purple to the second knuckle, but 3 hours later only 2 are numb. I would have taken a picture, but at the time I just couldn't make the camera work. (Sorry Mom, I'm not trying to scare you:)

Here are a couple more shots of the conditions today:

This is another one of my patented 'where is the horizon?' photos

A prof from the University of Houston and a HS teacher from Billings, MT planting flags out by where they fly the tethersondes

One of the more athletic people who can get around on skies that he brought. The rest of us who work out at "Sat Camp" walk back and forth a few times each day. It was pretty challenging tonight since there was a strong headwind and the path was hard to see and had plenty of drifts. Some of the weaker ones had to stop for some refreshment on the way:

Just to impress everyone who thought my thoughts about the mild 12 degrees was cool, here's what my hand looked like after I walked back to The Big House (about 1/2 mile) drinking a brew...between the cold and the low pressure, it was kinda foamy and my glove looked like this:

Now I'll sit back and wait for the comments on what's in my hand...

You know what?  I think that photo is good enough to stand by itself.  Assuming my "forecast" works out, I'm expecting to have a few minutes on my hands this weekend so there will be more later.  -Jeff

Fifteen years later, Barnsley had reached the top level of English football for the first time in their history. The home and away games with Liverpool that season were both momentous occasions for the South Yorkshire side, who had caught the nation's affections as they did weekly battle with the big guns of the English soccer aristocracy.

Astonishingly, Barnsley caused a major upset by beating Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield, despite remaining under siege for much of the match. The game at Oakwell early in 1998 was an altogether different affair.

After languishing at the foot of the table for several months, Barnsley staged a revival in February and March of 1998.

Fans began to believe that their team's  samba-style football and their shamelessly optimistic theme song "It's just like watching Brazil" (to the tune of "Blue Moon") might just be enough to ensure survival for one more season.

They had not bargained for the home game with Liverpool and match referee Gary Willard.

Much has been written about this game. For Barnsley fans, it is difficult to discuss the afternoon's events without foaming at the mouth.

Needless to say, Barnsley lost the game. At 1-1, the referee sent off two Barnsley players. Liverpool went ahead 2-1. Unbelievably, the nine men levelled the scores at 2-2. Mr. Willard then sent off a third Barnsley player.

In the last minute, Liverpool grabbed the winner. A darker mood was never witnessed at Oakwell. Mr. Willard required a police escort from the pitch. The team's league form never recovered from this game, and they were relegated before the end of the season.

Barnsley's tilt at the Premiership is documented by Mark Hodkinson in the book 'Life at the Top'. He is not a Barnsley fan, and therefore offers a more balanced view of that afternoon's events. Here is an excerpt from the book:

Willard chose precisely the wrong place to stage his three-card trick. Barnsley does not suffer fools and it has a historical mistrust of authority. While, like most clubs, Barnsley has undergone what sociologists call "embourgoisement" - you know, serviettes supplied with the pies, toilets that flush, fans that applaud David Seaman because he is the England goalkeeper, etc… - there remains a mass of support based on fierce parochialism. They are ex-miners, and sons of ex-miners, once the aristocracy of the working class, now left with too much time on their hands to ponder Barnsley's next match.

Back in the 1970s, they saw through the smoke and mirrors and detected that the National Coal Board had a secret agenda. They were patronised, told that too much time underground had made them over-fond of baseless conspiracy theories. In the 1980s the pits duly closed and their frustration was played out against lines of policemen.

The resentment, institutionalised now, still exists in Barnsley. The football club has become a focus for regional pride and naked passion; a two-fingered wave back to a country that they believe has consigned them to afternoon television and twice-weekly trips to the job club. Their nemesis arrived last weekend in the shape of a divorced father-of-two civil servant with a Saturday job as a football referee. There are "honest" fouls in football - a clip of the heel, a shift of weight to slow up an opponent's run - and there are dishonest ones, too. Willard permitted the cynical, the puerile and the snide but gleefully punished the trivial.

After this injustice had been reinforced beyond the point of tolerance, ill-feeling spread through Oakwell like a malignant Mexican wave.

For a longer excerpt, see here.

Tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. GMT, the FA Cup fifth round match between Liverpool and Barnsley will kick off at Anfield.

Barnsley are now a mid-table Championship club. Getting a result at Premiership Liverpool tomorrow would be touted as a giant-killing. Realistically, the best most of us hope for is a draw or a hard-fought defeat with predictably sympathetic "Battling Barnsley" headlines.

But tonight, hope remains. At 10:00 in the morning, with five feet snow banks lining our driveway, our family will settle on the sofa to watch the game live on Fox Sports World Canada. Ritualistically, my sons and I will don our replica Barnsley shirts and, as the game kicks off, let optimism soar.

I will ask them to scan the hordes of Barnsley fans. And try to spot Grandad.

The distance between home and abroad, past and present, hope and reality, their childhood and mine, will shrink.

By half-time, the game may well be as good as over.

And, should Barnsley lose, they will handle the pain of defeat less well than me. And part of me will feel guilty for having subjected them to this. Even though they can't wait to watch.

But I also know that they will always remember this game.

And that's important as well.

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Addendum: Guess what. Score level with 30 seconds to go, then this happens.

Brian Howard's glory strike in Arabic.

Or in French:

Cue household delirium.

They will definitely remember this game.

Full match report here.

And this is how the shocked pundits saw it unfold:

Match of the Day highlights:

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