Lake effect snow in December of 2006 (MODIS image from NASA’s Earth Observatory website)

I’m a happy boss.  I’ve talked to both Jim Karner (in the Miller Range) and John Schutt (in McMurdo) in the past half-day, hearing what’s on their minds and sharing a few box scores. Even though I’m sure you’ll hear more details in the next few blogs,   I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned.

Miller Range: The end of their season has been looming for a few days, but now it’s looking more imminent.  It has been snowing a bit out there and now there is enough snow on the icefields to hid the meteorites.   Typically when this happens (and it can happen a few times a season, or not at all) we wait a few days and a wind storm cleans everything off again. But that’s not much to hope for when you’re expecting to leave the field in a few days anyway.  So with that in mind,  Jim is going to let McMurdo know they can be ready for pickup when the schedule next permits.

Elephant Moraine:  The Twin Otter schedule remains bogged down, with too many groups wanting the aircraft in the same timeframe.  Normally the aircraft are flying all over the continent, so there’s a daily progression of priorities based on who’s been waiting, whose work is most urgent, and of course the weather.  Our dynamic duo (John and Con) are in line right behind a group doing ice coring at Allan Hills (next door to Elephant Moraine) so there’s no gaming the system, they just have to wait.  It will be a few days before they start thinking about plan B.

Novelty, OH:  I’m home for the long MLK-day weekend, and while we’ve had a very warm winter so far due to El Nino, Lake Erie’s lake-effect snow machine has been turned on.  Steady flakes since about 10 am and expected to continue for 24 hours. Meanwhile I’m getting ready for a “justify-your-existence” presentation to NASA brass a week from Monday.  I’ve had to do these regularly (in one form or another)  for decades, so no huge level of stress. However, this one is a little different.  Our funding now comes from NASA’s Near Earth Object Observatory (NEOO) program; this fits in a practical sense since they fund asteroid-related longer-term projects (just think of us as a “lithoscope”). But some might need a moment to see that the science fits as well.  My job is to make the case for that fit and show how ANSMET is a good use of NEOO money even if we’re not really “telescopic”.

–posted by RPH from Novelty, OH,  17Jan 2016, 3 pm.