Notes from the Field

I departed DC for Steamboat, still not knowing when things will arrive. While switching flights in Denver, I receive the shipping info: it’s supposed to arrive today!

We’re scheduled to start the field campaign next week, but Goddard has been closed since the previous Friday because of back-to-back snowstorms in Washington, DC. The last week before shipping out on a campaign is always hectic, but we were supposed to have shipped the equipment out days ago. We have lost a week to […]

Knowing how widespread and how deep mountain snow packs are is important for more than just making ski forecasts. One-sixth of the world’s population relies on melted snow for their freshwater, which means good estimates of snow are critical for making realistic predictions of a region’s water supply. But measuring snow, especially the amount of […]

Operation Ice Bridge, a six-year NASA field campaign, is the largest airborne survey of Earth’s polar ice ever flown. It will yield an unprecedented three-dimensional view of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, ice shelves and sea ice. The team in Antarctica will be blogging about their experiences on this campaign over the next few weeks […]

Merril Brook Cabins, Howland, Maine From Dr. Jon Ranson: I’ve shared a lot of my own experiences over the past two weeks.  For the moment, I’m going to step aside and ask Sassan Saatchi to share with you his impressions of his work at Howland.  From Dr. Sassan Saatchi This has been a very good […]

Penobscot Experimental Forest, Bradley, Maine Temperature 71°F    Humidity 65%    Wind 0 mph      Sunny From Dr. Jon Ranson: This gorgeous morning we hopped in our cars and drove back to the last site, close to Lake Chemo (you can pronounce that chee-moe).  Yesterday I was impressed by the high biomass and the giant Quaking Aspen trees.  Today […]

Penobscot Experimental  Forest, Bradley Maine Temperature: 71°F Humidity 29%   Wind: 9 mph WNW    Clear From Dr. Jon Ranson: The weather here is finally absolutely fabulous.  It’s cool and clear today.  It feels just like Maine in late August should feel.  We’ve got another Hurricane out in the Atlantic coming our way, but I think Danny […]

Penobscot Experimental Forest, Bradley Maine Temperature:  80°F   Humidity 74%   Wind:  8 mph SW   Clear with few clouds From Dr. Ranson: On the way to today’s site we passed a small plantation of American Chestnut trees.  They are part of a program run by a nonprofit organization, The American Chestnut Foundation, to restore blight-resistant American Chestnuts […]

Penobscot Experimental Forest, Bradley Maine Temperature:  80°F    Humidity 76%     Wind:  8 mph SW     Clear skies From Dr. Ranson: Today began with a short trip back into time.  We wanted to look at a plot in a very old forest that was in preservation.  Rick Dionne with the USDA Forest Service and the Chief Forester at […]