The Arctic Cowboys use aerial photography to scout safe passage through the ice.
As expected, the team stayed put today. During our daily call-in, West described what the life of an expedition team is like.
On paddling days, once they decide on a spot to rest, they each have a role. Once landed, they all pull the kayaks safely above tide level. Immediately, the team changes clothes into warm, relatively dry, clothes. This takes the biting chill off. Remember, it is still cold there with temperatures in the low 40’s. Add a little water splash to your clothes, high winds blowing across sea ice and it’s even colder. (Here at home base in Texas, we are suffering through a full week+ of temperatures above 100 degrees). Once their clothes are changed, Mark gets the wind generator from Tex:Energy set up and safely tethered to the ground. Eileen starts boiling water so they can get a hot drink and warm food. West and Jeff immediately begin to select and set up their shelter. They deploy their “Critter Gitter” bear deterrent system every time they make land to recover. The motion detectors have so far alerted the team several times of Polar Bear incursions at the perimeter of the camp. The team gathers together to eat and get warm liquid in them and recount their tales of adventure and hardships from the day. After their meal, they begin to prepare their shelter and begin ‘nesting’ by setting up their sleeping bags, laying out their clothes to “dry” and collecting water to boil or filter in preparation for the next day. At this point, they may continue talking around the “dinner table” or each retreat into their Kindles, a great way to keep their minds occupied during downtime. They may do a little exploring, staying within shouting distance of each other. Or take a much-needed nap.
Generally, West will call Barbara on the IridiumGo after camp is set up and they’ve all eaten. They, first, discuss how many miles they paddled. Then, talk about how strong (or not) the winds are at the exact moment so Barbara and Tom can compare the on-site accuracy to remote weather data models. For the most part, weather predictions are very accurate. After that, Barbara will communicate the various weather metrics. These include tide and wind reports. Also, wind directions, speeds, changes, gusts, etc. We discuss if fog will be present. We report each hour for a 12-hour period and make weather predictions based on speed and distance traveled at each future location. This is a complicated process. Tom McGuire and Barbara spend hours, daily, talking and working through each weather scenario via phone and screen shares. This process seems to be working well. We’ve been very accurate in our predictions with the exception of one day due to incorrect weather model data. That is a pretty fantastic track record!
With the team looking at a 46-mile open water crossing, we also discuss wind direction changes and how it affects the dreaded ICE. Unfortunately, our computer models run behind on ice updates – sometimes days behind. We’re not talking about ice that affects supertankers and city-sized transport ships. That kind of ice is very easy to monitor. We’re interested in water level Kayak sized ice. Sometimes it appears as a long string or cluster of gravel when viewed from space. There are great enterprise-level monitoring and optical services that show us 8 to 22-hour updates but not real-time updates. Not surprisingly, no near-realtime optical data sources are available to us common folk. That is unless someone would like to connect us with a Corona Spy satellite we could point directly at the team 24/7. We are working through this.
