2010 JOINT SCIENCE EDUCATION TOUR: BRINGING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO THE GREENLAND ICE SHEET

The Joint Science Education Tour is a program sponsored by the US National Science Foundation, the US Embassy in Copenhagen, and the New York Air National Guard. The program promotes polar science education and cultural exchange. High School students and their teachers from Denmark, Greenland, and the US traveled to scientific field stations in Greenland during the tour. The group visited many scientists who were performing field work in various aspects of polar and ice sheet research. The home base for the tour was the town of Kangerlussuaq located near the Russell Glacier. The group hiked to Russell Glacier and sampled the glacial melt water for temperature, pH, and alkalinity, and then compared these measurements to others taken from the same melt water flow as it reached Kangerlussuaq. The students received cold weather gear and the New York Air National Guard flew them by LC-130 ski-equipped military transport plane to Summit Station, located at 72°N 38°W. At Summit Station the group received instruction on how to live and work safely on the ice sheet. The students learned first- hand about daily camp life at this scientific facility. They stayed at the station for two days and slept in tents on the ice sheet. Many different types of research equipment were being used at the station. This research equipment included both a stationary instrument and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for measuring the albedo of the snow. The students helped launch a NOAA balloon that had an instrument package used for measuring ozone and observed data being transmitted back from the balloon. The group also visited the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling Station (NEEM). NEEM, located at 77°N 51°W, is an ice core drilling facility sampling ice from the pervious interglacial period. The drill team was nearing bedrock while the group was visiting and the ice cores being brought to the surface were between 115,000 and 130,000 years old. The Joint Scientific Education Tour gives High School students from three countries the opportunity to share the experience of seeing scientists conduct research that is contributing to the understanding of global climate change.