20 February 2011

Arrival at Eureka!

Glad to be at Eureka! --------------------- The ACE intensive phase team is now in Eureka and - as always - the trip up did not go as planned!

Felicia, Rodica, Joseph, Xiaoyi, Lin, Volodya, and I (Cristen) all traveled to Yellowknife together. A minor hiccough (a couple extra hours in the Calgary airport) meant that we didn't much time to explore Yellowknife, but we did meet for dinner at the Dark Night, where Paul joined us when he got in from Saskatoon.

The next morning, our charter out of Yellowknife left right on time, with the weather looking good at Cambridge Bay, Resolute Bay, and Eureka. We landed smoothly in Cambridge Bay and went inside the airport to wait for the plane to refuel. Then we waited... and waited... and waited... Finally, the co-pilot came out with an apologetic smile on his face. The weather had turned in Resolute. During our wait, we shared a lot of laughs, especially when a hyper (and adorable) husky puppy visited us in the terminal.

Four hours later, the pilot explained that the weather still wasn't good, but that we could fly toward Resolute Bay. If it didn't clear up on time, we would wind up in Pond Inlet for the night. We flew over Resolute Bay and could see the city lights and runway (visibility!). The plane made a nice landing in the 25 knot cross-wind and we were back on track.

When we finally made to Eureka around midnight, we were exhausted but excited to see our old friends around the station. Zen and Emily gave us the wildlife update (only one live Arctic hare and one muskox carcass in their time here!) and we showed Xioayi and Lin around the station. This morning, we said goodbye to Zen and Emily, as they took off for Yellowknife. We will miss them during the intensive phase of the campaign this year.

Now we're back in waiting-mode. The road to PEARL is in bad shape and they don't know how long it will take to clear. Fortunately, it's a beautiful clear -42C outside and we are now warming up after our first Eureka adventure: a walk out on the Fjord in the midday twilight.

Cristen