{"id":1950,"date":"2015-01-15T07:49:19","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T18:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/?p=1950"},"modified":"2015-01-15T11:05:55","modified_gmt":"2015-01-15T16:05:55","slug":"status-update-and-how-to-collect-a-meteorite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/2015\/01\/15\/status-update-and-how-to-collect-a-meteorite\/","title":{"rendered":"Status Update and \u201cHow to collect a meteorite\u201d…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The mad dash for the tent for lunch. Notice the Moon in the sky above the nunatak for scale.<\/p><\/div>\n

Today\u2019s weather dawned cool, clear, and windy (you know, for a change). Luckily the wind had dropped to a borderline value of ~12 mph, just enough to stream some snow across the surface and make us very uncomfortable. On a normal day, we might not have gone out (since it is always windier over on the other side of the ice field\u2026and today was no exception), but after two consecutive tent days and on account of our Harcawesomeness (Hard Core Awesomeness\u2026come on son, keep up) we went out anyway. The morning went well, and we collected 24 meteorites, but even Harcawesome folks like a hot lunch, so we skedaddled back to the tents for a leisurely 2 hour lunch (if there had been cocktails, the French would have been proud).<\/p>\n

Johnny basically had to drag me out of my tent for the afternoon session. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m lazy, it\u2019s just that I don\u2019t like to work when I\u2019m warm and comfortable and it\u2019s cold outside (mmmmm\u2026Macaroni and Cheese lunch). Still, I\u2019m glad we went out, because we headed back over to the moraine and found another 28 meteorites in about 3 hours, bringing the grand total for the day to 52, and the season total to about 369. If the weather holds\u00a0tomorrow<\/span><\/span>, we\u2019re going to be pushing north of 400 for the season. (Hmmm\u2026I think there\u2019s a saying about counting chickens before their eggs hatch that applies here\u2026but I forget how it goes. And now I want eggs.)<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s a close-up on the Moon, cause it\u2019s probably not visible in the other image. There was something both comforting and cool about having the sun and Moon in the sky at the same time for hours (and within 90 degrees of each other).<\/p><\/div>\n

It has been brought to our attention that we haven\u2019t really explained how (or why) we collect meteorites. Now, I would have thought it was obvious how to collect meteorites in Antarctica, but apparently not everyone has been down here to do this yet. Seriously people, you need to travel more!<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, I\u2019m happy to give you the 100% true, completely unvarnished version of what it is like to collect a meteorite in -20 F wind chill, though some of the language may have been changed to keep this to a PG-13 blog. Remember, everything that follows is 100% true, and nothing has been exaggerated, embellished, or just plain made up (just like all of my other blog posts).<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ll remember, we\u2019re often sweeping these blue ice fields in a straight(ish) line, with 8 people abreast. The outside of the line (typically Johnny or I) are marking the edges of the searched area with double flags, so we know where to continue when we turn around. The person on the other side of the line (again, Johnny or I) is picking up his flags from the last sweep, and largely searching the same area he searched on the last sweep. Since we are both so good, we never ever ever ever (too many evers to be believable?) miss a meteorite the first time around, despite trying to keep a straight line and herd the cats (sorry, scientists) in between us in addition to searching for meteorites.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s the beginning of the collection process, taking a photo of the sample with the counter hovering above it. Christine for scale.<\/p><\/div>\n

Eventually someone stumbles upon a meteorite, either in their search lane, or if they’re lucky in someone else\u2019s search lane which they have been brave\/foolhardy enough to poach from their neighbor. Now, officially, poaching is discouraged, but practically speaking it\u2019s pretty much the wild west meets the high seas out here, and the rules are more like guidelines. Also, that\u2019s what our ice axes are for\u2026to defend \u201cour\u201d turf and \u201cour\u201d meteorites. Nevertheless, once someone finds a meteorite, they stand there and do a little dance, not unlike the dance that Snoopy does in the Peanuts cartoons. This draws everyone else over to the person who found the meteorite, mostly to mock and ridicule them, but then we commence collection.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s important to approach the meteorites from downwind. Not for contamination reasons, but because they are easily spooked, and might scurry away or burrow back into the ice. If you\u2019ve seen Apollo 18 (if so, shame on you) they\u2019re something like that, only with slightly less blood. (Huh, so I\u2019ve just been informed that the mobility of meteorites is not common knowledge, thus we\u2019re going to pretend I didn\u2019t say any of that.)<\/p>\n

After someone finds a meteorite, the rest of us come over to help collect, especially Johnny who brings his ski-doo over and parks his back left corner about 12 inches from the meteorite. He rarely runs them over, and when that happens it\u2019s on purpose to try to subdue a fleeing meteorite (sorry, right, we\u2019re not talking about that). The purpose of parking near the meteorite is so that he can use the differential GPS system integrated into his ski-doo to determine the location of the meteorite down to a few cm accuracy.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s the intermediate step, rolling up the sample in the bag. Notice Vinciane standing guard to ward off poachers\u2026or skua.<\/p><\/div>\n

Once the GPS is running, the rest of the team starts to collect the meteorite. First thing the meteorite gets is a unique sample number on an aluminum tag (we\u2019re in the 23XXX range right now), which is also entered into a manual counter\/image scale device (see image 1). Someone then holds the counter above the meteorite, and a field photo is taken, which shows the context in which the meteorite was found, and records its size, shape, color, etc. Now taking this picture is a pain, because it means our photographers (Christine and Devon), have to lie down on the -40 degree ice, and try to take a focused image without glare on the numbers or the meteorite. This year\u2019s photographers are quite efficient, and one doesn\u2019t have to have one\u2019s bare hand out (known as \u201cthe Norman\u201d) for a minute or two while getting detailed instructions about how to tilt the counter to the left, then up, then right, then more right, then back down, and then twist it around (known as \u201cthe Inge\u201d).<\/p>\n

Note: Jim wants me to say hi to you Inge; he hopes everything is going well in Sweden!<\/p>\n

Once we have the picture, we give the approximate dimensions (in cm) to Johnny who records it in \u201cthe book\u201d, along with an approximation of the percentage of the meteorite covered by fusion crust, as well as our best guess as to the type of meteorite (though officially we aren\u2019t supposed to speculate on this).<\/p>\n

Next the sample goes into the sterile Teflon bag sent down to us by JSC curation staff. This means getting a cold Teflon bag open with gloves on (or bare hands if you\u2019re gloves aren\u2019t up for it). Now cold Teflon is not completely frictionless, but it\u2019s pretty darn close (hence them using it to coat your non-stick pans). Big fun! Once we have the bag open, we either (a) pick up the sample with the sterile tongs and place it in the bag (this is for newbies and amateurs), or (b) scoop the sample into the bag in one deft motion using only the bag (we call this the \u201cZeigler\u201d\u2026and yes, I can name anything I want after myself\u2026it\u2019s good to the author)!<\/p>\n

Once the sample is in the bag, we role it up (this is easier for team members from Colorado or Washington), place the metal tag in the bag without putting our fingers (or any other body parts) in the bag, then tape the bag shut with special freezer tape that works at these cold temperatures.<\/p>\n

Note: It is important to not drip snot on the meteorite. You wouldn\u2019t think this would need to be explicitly stated (I mean, duh), but out in this cold your nose is pretty much always running, thus we are constantly on guard against this (we even got special training on how not to do it)! Other things you aren\u2019t allowed to do with the meteorites: no juggling, no soccer, no softball (fast-pitch or slow-pitch), and no curling.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s the final step, taping the Teflon bag closed with the meteorite inside (Shannon for scale). It\u2019s important to not tape over the tag for inventory purposes\u2026we call taping over the tag \u201ca Vinny\u201d (but not to her face).<\/p><\/div>\n

The last step after collecting the meteorite is to write the sample number on a flag, and chip a hole in the ice, leaving the flag as a temporary record of where we found the sample. We do this in case the GPS doesn\u2019t properly record the location, so we can go back the next day and redo it. Chipping 30 or 40 holes in a day can get a bit tedious, but it helps warm you up!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s sounds pretty complicated, but at this point we can collect a sample in about 2 minutes, though the GPS usually takes 4-5 minutes. This gives us plenty of time to snoop around whoever\u2019s line it is to poach meteorites (accidentally of course).<\/p>\n

All of my poor attempts at humor aside, we obviously treat the meteorites with the utmost respect, as we\u2019ve come a long way at considerable expense and inconvenience to collect these meteorites. We want them to be in as pristine of a condition as possible (as pristine as something can be after 10\u2019s to 100\u2019s of thousands of years in a glacier), so that future researchers can use them for the widest range of studies as possible.<\/p>\n

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Here we head for home after a long but productive day. That\u2019s a Mountain Wave Cloud (a type of lenticular cloud) that formed in the lee of Mt. Ward and hovered above us for a few hours. We made no end of jokes about the mother ship that was hiding inside it, and the swarm that might descend on us to wipe out any witnesses. After much discussion it was decided the 8 of us probably didn\u2019t warrant a swarm. We also need more things to talk about.<\/p><\/div>\n

Stay tuned \u201ctomorrow<\/span><\/span>\u201d to learn more about why we collect meteorites!<\/p>\n

\u2013 written by Ryan Zeigler, Davis-Ward, Jan 14, 2015<\/p>\n

P.S. A special hello to my wife in Quang Ngai. I\u2019ve been drinking the Vietnamese instant coffee you sent me almost every day (and sharing with Jim). It\u2019s very good, but it doesn\u2019t quite taste the same as when you make it at home. Miss you very much (and not just because my coffee tastes funny)!!<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s weather dawned cool, clear, and windy (you know, for a change). Luckily the wind had dropped to a borderline value of ~12 mph, just enough to stream some snow across the surface and make us very uncomfortable. On a normal day, we might not have gone out (since it is always windier over on the other side of the ice field\u2026and today was no exception), but after two consecutive tent days and on account of our Harcawesomeness (Hard Core Awesomeness\u2026come on son, keep up) we went out anyway. The morning went well, and we collected 24 meteorites, but even Harcawesome folks like a hot lunch,<\/p>\n

Continue reading… Status Update and \u201cHow to collect a meteorite\u201d…<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":1951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/111\/2015\/01\/14203754\/image18.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1950"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1965,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950\/revisions\/1965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caslabs.case.edu\/ansmet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}