I'm currently in:  Southern Ocean/ Antarctica -> Hobart, Tasmania -> Sydney -> Home! 🥰

Check out the latest media about the Denman Voyage:

ABC Interview "Antarctic clouds and pristine air hold clues to climate model blind spots"

Australian Antarctic Division Video Interview "Clouds of Life"

Colorado State University page on my work

Check out my  Reach the World journal articles/field blogs/livestreams HERE or on YouTube:

Livestream #1 

Livestream #2

Livestream #3

Journal #14 - Back home! 

It's funny how it all feels like a dream... I'm happy to be back home with my dog, husband, and friends, but still reminiscing over the most incredible experience of my life. 3 months away from home, 2 months in the Southern Ocean/Antarctica, and so many amazing experiences and relationships built along the way. Saying goodbye was the most difficult part. I will treasure this experience forever, and I hope to return soon. I know some campaigns are coming up in the next few years, but without support from the NSF and other US funding, the chances look fairly slim. It is such a disservice to science and all Americans that we cannot continue our vital work in the fastest-warming part of our planet. Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are pivotal parts of the global climate system. Understanding the degree of warming and improving climate models is critical for all human lives. I don't have words for the sheer vitriol towards science happening in my country right now. I am devastated, furious, and tired. I will not give up fighting for science and human rights. This country needs a drastic change, and I hope it happens soon.

Journal #13 - Farewell from the Shackleton Ice Shelf! (written for Reach the World)

Wow, how time flies! It seems like just yesterday we were getting everything packed to ship to Tasmania, and now we’re nearing the end of the voyage! I am very honored to have been able to share this experience with you. While words cannot describe the beauty and wonder of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, I hope I did my best. My entire team and Stay the Antarctic dog would like to say a big “Thank You” for following along with our voyage.

We have conquered the rough seas, we have collected tons of data, and we have learned just how fun life on an Antarctic voyage can be! We have completed nearly 50 days on board the RSV Nuyina, and we have roughly two weeks left before we return to Hobart, but our Reach the World journey is wrapping up. We have seen humpback and minke whales, emperor and adelie penguins, petrels, and seals! We have conquered blizzard conditions for days and enjoyed the days when the bright sun comes out and illuminates the icebergs. Many nights, the Aurora Australis (southern lights) has greeted us with swirls of green and red in the clear night skies. We have made many friends and learned that the paths to science are variable, but the one common denominator is curiosity! 

I’m not going to lie - I am getting teary writing this journal entry, as this has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Seeing Antarctica, the seasonal changes, and the changing ecosystems for myself has left me with such a sense of awe and wonder that it simply doesn't feel real. If there is one thing I want you all to get out of this experience, it’s that this region of the world must be protected. You all are our future, and every single one of you has the ability to help. Talk to your parents, friends, and family about this experience and how the climate is changing these regions. If you are interested in polar research and conservation… Go for it! We need you. It’s your generation that is going to be critical in the fight to protect Antarctica and the climate. Secondly, never give up. If it seems like the dream is too big, or you start to doubt yourself – keep going! Anything is possible with enough curiosity and hard work.

Thank you all for your participation, excellent questions, and ferocious curiosity! I can see many future Antarctic explorers in all of you, and I hope to share the seas with you one day.

Journal #12 - It's only UP from here!

Greetings from the Shackleton Ice Shelf! Today I get to tell you about my favorite activity on the voyage — launching weather balloons! Every day, we launch at least two balloons per day — one in the morning and one in the evening in order to get a “look” at the profile of the atmosphere. The balloons carry a small device called a radiosonde that collects data on temperature, relative humidity, pressure, as well as wind speed and direction. We then use the data to make a sketch of the atmosphere, from the surface to the upper troposphere (the balloon makes it roughly 15 to 20 km up out here)! The sketches, known as “Skew-Ts” because of the way we draw the temperature lines, help us to “see” the atmosphere. This allows us to understand important dynamics of the atmosphere necessary for cloud formation and other meteorological phenomena. 

I cannot mention the balloon launches without giving credit to our balloon launcher extraordinaire, Kelsey Barber. Returning classrooms might remember Kelsey from last year’s Reach the World, in which she was the host from the MISO cruise. Kelsey is a researcher from the University of Utah and manages the radiosonde launches in addition to some of the radars on board.

Kelsey is a natural explorer and has a love for field work. She says her first field experience during undergrad, where she lived in a tent for 2 months in rural Mongolia. During this time, she also fell in love with doing science in the field. She studied butterfly migration patterns in the Horidol Saridag mountains and studied the effects of a changing climate on the butterflies. While she loved the field work, she transitioned into more of an earth science and oceanography role at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS). While at VIMS, Kelsey got her first taste of polar research, working with Arctic upwelling data. This led her to pursue a master's degree at the University of Utah in atmospheric science, researching Southern Ocean and Antarctic clouds, which is what brings her to the Denman cruise today! 

Kelsey has been on 2 other Southern Ocean voyages, MISO and SOTS. She has launched over 300 weather balloons (and we still have nearly 80 left to go on this voyage!). She says that her favorite launches were on the RV Investigator because you have to time the release with the swell, which makes it more of an art! The RV Nuyina is a bit more stable, so the swell is less of a factor unless we are in bad weather. However, she says her most memorable failed launch was on board the Nuyina during a bad weather day in which the winds were so violent it pushed the balloon down into the ocean! The radiosonde was destroyed, and we had to launch another one once the winds calmed. She says one of her most memorable moments on the ship so far was the super-cold day yesterday, where the wind chill was -36 degrees Celsius and the time to frostbite was less than 10 minutes. So what did we do? We went outside and made ice art on the windows!

We also did the evaporation trick where you toss boiling water into the atmosphere, and it rapidly evaporates and condenses into a mini cloud because the air is so cold! Kelsey also loves traveling, hiking, and fly fishing. She is planning on visiting New Zealand after we get back and exploring the mountains there! 

Journal #11 - The Atmospheric Team has Good Chemistry! (written for RTW)

Welcome back, explorers! I hope everyone had a great spring break full of fun and exploration. Today, I have the pleasure of showcasing two other members of our team – atmospheric chemists Jakob and Salvatore.  Jakob and Salvotore, or “Salvo” as we call him, are both experts in atmospheric aerosols – little tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere. These particles are often so tiny that you cannot see them. In fact, some particles are up to ten times smaller than a human hair!  Many things can become atmospheric aerosols – from dirt, sea salt, to tiny bits of biological material – and much more! 

Jakob and Salvo study these tiny particles and how they impact cloud formation, especially in the polar regions. They use various machines that can pull in the air and “count” the number of aerosols and identify their size. This helps us categorize the types of aerosols, as dust and sea salt are typically much larger than aerosols formed by gases. Aerosols are vital to cloud formation, as they provide a little surface for water to condense on. Without aerosols, cloud formation would be impossible because water needs this “surface” to cling to. Next time you see a cloud, thank the aerosols!

Both Jakob and Salvo study the aerosols that act as surfaces for the water to condense on (called cloud condensation nuclei or CCN), allowing us to see how they contribute to cloud formation in Antarctica. The Southern Ocean is the cloudiest region in the world, but it also has unique lower clouds with mixed phases – both liquid and water droplets. Understanding the types of aerosols and particles that help form these clouds allows us to understand better the amount of sunlight reflected or absorbed by Earth’s surface. 

Aside from the science, Jakob and Salvo both have a deep love of nature. They both enjoy hiking and exploring. In fact, they took me on an 11-mile hike at Bruny Island, Tasmania – before we got on the ship! Jakob says nature and looking at clouds from planes as a kid is what inspired him to be a scientist. Both he and Salvo agree that wanting to be a part of a solution for our changing climate was a big motivator for them to become researchers.  

Jakob is originally from Bath, North Carolina and Salvo from Sicily, Italy, but they both currently work in Australia. Jakob is an aerosol scientist at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, and Salvatore is a PhD student at the University of Tasmania - Melbourne campus. Both mentioned that their paths to their current positions were not traditional. Jakob worked on a fishing boat in Alaska for a summer to pay for school and then moved to Denmark for a year before starting his PhD. He even conducted research in the Arctic at a Danish research base in northeast Greenland! He’s currently the only one from our team to have made it to both poles. How cool!

Salvo said he wanted to be a chef and was not very interested in the sciences until college, where he discovered environmental engineering.  He has since had a lot of field experience, including the highest peak of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines mountains! Salvo wanted me to include that no matter what anyone tells you or what you think you can or can't do – anything is possible with passion and effort! Anyone is capable of a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)!  

Let me know if you have any questions for Jakob and Salvo!

Journal #10 - Tom Paynter, Electron Wrangler

Welcome back, explorers! Today you’re in for a treat because I have the pleasure of introducing one of our “coolest” team members, Tom Paynter. Tom is an electrical engineer by trade, but prefers the title “electron wrangler”. He helps ensure that all of our instruments are working properly and all the data is being transmitted. Tom is one of the literally “coolest” people I’ve met because before embarking on the Denman Marine Voyage, he had just returned from 18 months at Davis Station, Antarctica. In fact, Tom helped take some of my samples over the last year and a half while he was at Davis and I will be bringing those samples back for analysis after this trip! I wanted to share Tom’s experience with all of you so that you can have the Antarctic experience from both ship and from land!

Tom loves Antarctica and has spent a majority of the last two years “down South”. He said he first got the idea of applying to work in Antarctica while he was in his first year of university, where he first saw Antarctic ice cores while walking through the physics building. He was immediately hooked!

Tom started applying right after university and noted that the application process was quite daunting, as it's a fairly competitive program. Many applications, interviews, and medical exams later, he was accepted to work as an electrical engineer at Davis Station. 

While his title is electrical engineer or “electron wrangler”, Tom wears many different hats. He is also a research assistant on many different projects such as all of the atmospheric team projects on Denman and a plethora of projects while at Davis. Many of the scientists on these projects cannot winter over in Antarctica, so people like Tom step in to assist in sample collection. He says he enjoys getting to do a lot of different jobs and learning about the many scientific projects that he is taking samples for. He also likes to add a bit of fun to it as I found out last year, when some of the pictures of my samples had googly eyes on them! 

Speaking of googly eyes, laughter and fun are crucial aspects of staying on base for long periods of time, Tom says. Especially while “wintering” (spending the cold, dark winter season in Antarctica when it is nearly impossible to get out), having fun and making memories with your fellow expeditioners is key to a happy deployment. Expeditioners like to celebrate events on base to make it feel more like home. One of Tom’s favorite celebrations was the Mid-Winter’s Festival celebrated on the winter solstice, otherwise known as the darkest, coldest day of the year. So how do they celebrate? By taking a swim in the sea ice! While this sounds crazy to someone like myself, Tom explained that the sea temperature stays around -1.6 °C,  which is much warmer than the outside air at -25 ° C. In comparison, it feels fairly warm. In a way, it’s like an Antarctic hot tub!

Tom tells me the most difficult part about wintering in Antarctica is the challenging weather, which can change rapidly. High winds and fierce blizzards have a tendency to disrupt operations. He says there were a few times where he got out to the huts where many of the scientific samples were collected and a few times he had to stay there for a while before returning due to the conditions. What is typically a 10-minute walk could turn into an hour drive or worse! The bitter cold can also make work difficult, as metal often becomes brittle in the frigid temperatures and they even broke a drill while he was there!

When asked what his favorite part of Antarctica is, Tom says he cannot pick a favorite. He’s seen penguins and auroras, swam in the sea, experienced polar night, and had so many incredible experiences. And yet the beauty, the adventure, and the friendships forged at the bottom of the world are all equally part of what makes him come back for more. He is currently applying for more roles with the Australian Antarctic Division and hopes to return to another station (or voyage) after this one. What a life!

Journal #9 - Denman Glacier

We officially reached the part of the glacier above sea level yesterday and what an incredible sight! We got to ride right next to the glacier and it was an out-of-body experience! I have such gratitude for this planet and this experience, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the gut-wrenching sadness I feel hearing news of the massive NOAA layoffs and NSF grant cuts happening back home. NOAA and NSF are both critical to climate science GLOBALLY. Our Australian colleagues use NOAA data just as we do, and I fear the repercussions of this administration will be catastrophic for climate science. One of the reasons for the Denman Marine Voyage is to understand why the glacier is thawing so rapidly. If fully melted, it could lead to a 1.5 m level sea rise. As I am writing this, more and more talented climate scientists in the US are losing their jobs. NOAA is being gutted. I can't help but wonder what will happen to the data. Web pages have already been deleted/scrubbed. What about reanalysis? HYSPLIT? Without these critical tools, most of our work will be useless. I became a climate scientist because I desperately want to be part of the solution. It is devastating to live in a world that can't seem to understand the magnitude of the problem, and now has turned to villainizing research. So, today I write this and look out the window of the observation desk at a mostly thawed Southern Ocean, watching some sea ice form and hoping more will come as we pass into Austral winter. I sit and wonder if we'll ever "get" it. I pray we do. This planet is the only thing we have. There is no "Mars", and no other adequate "planet B". There is no sufficient geoengineering "solution". Don't let them fool you with bad investments disguised as shiny alternatives. We have a solution, it's not rocket science. And it starts with supporting climate science and research. 

As we approached the closest to the glacier we would get, I asked a friend to take a picture with my climate stripes scarf. The scarf has stripes from 1961 to 2024, with the colors corresponding to the average temperatures for that year compared to the average temperature from 1961 to 2010. In other words, the blues are anomalously cold and the reds are anomalously hot. One can easily see the trend as we approach the last 2 decades. This planet is warming rapidly and we are already seeing the consequences. We are close to the 1.5 C threshold - a critical point in our history. Will we stop this madness and invest in the future of our planet and humanity? Only time will tell. 

Journal #8 - Questions for Reach the World

How far did I travel this week?:

Very far! All over the Southern Ocean, past Casey station, and near the Shackleton Ice shelf and Denman Glacier.

How far have I traveled on this journey so far?:

I am currently 16,769 km (10,420 miles) from my home in Fort Collins, CO!

How did I get around this week?:

As mentioned before, we are on the RSV Nuyina, which is an icebreaking research and supply vessel intended to support Australian scientific activities and research bases in Antarctica.

What was the most interesting place I visited this week?:

Probably the transect we’re currently in! We're on our way to a glacier with many large icebergs, whales, petrels, and also a lot of phytoplankton! You can even see the phytoplankton in the wet lab!

After lunch, we also have an afternoon “science talk” where a different member of the science team gets to talk about their research and goals on the ship. The Denman Marine voyage is very interdisciplinary – we have geologists, marine biologists, oceanographers, and of course, atmospheric scientists! I love the science talks because I get to learn something new every day from experts in different fields.

Number of sunny days this week: 1

Number of cloudy days this week: 7

Number of rainy days this week: 0

Number of snowy days this week: 6

Number of windy days this week: 7

What is the air temperature right now in Fahrenheit?: 28

How was the weather this week?:

It’s been overcast and snowing all week! All the precipitation has been snow or wintery mix, and we even had blizzard conditions for a few days. It's also been extremely windy. We call it the “Screaming 60s” for the strong westerly winds in this region... It makes for quite a rocky journey!

What animals did I see this week? :

We saw humpback whales, some petrels, albatrosses, and today we saw our first penguin! It was a group of Adelie penguins and was just standing on a little iceberg right next to the ship! So cute!

What was the coolest thing I saw in nature this week?:

We have been on board the RSV Nuyina for 12 days now and we’ve had quite the journey already! The journey down to 60 S took roughly a week and we’ve hit some bad weather a couple of times. We were supposed to be at the Denman glacier by now but we are still in the Southern Ocean and have headed slightly north to avoid the worst of the storms. The storms have brought blizzards, high winds, big waves, and have made the boat quite rocky!

What main languages are spoken here?:

The ship is full of many diverse scientists from around the world. The primary language is English, but you can also hear French, German, Russian, and Spanish being spoken on board!  We even have a “word of the day” board where we translate various ocean-inspired words into different languages!

What type of money is used here?:

No money! The only currency is curiosity and love!

How much does a bottle of water cost?:

Water is free! The ship can produce its own water as it’s moving! There are no water bottles, but many taps that we use with our personal water bottles.

What was the best meal this week?:

All the meals have been amazing but my favorite was a Sumac-crusted roast chicken with confit garlic potatoes. I didn’t even know what that was before I ate it, but it was incredible! My favorite dessert was sticky date pudding with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

What music did I listen to this week?:

I made a playlist specifically for this trip with a lot of ocean and antarctic-themed songs! I’ve been jamming out to that all week! One of my favorite songs off of the playlist is “El Botecito” by Los Hijos de Pueblo, which means “Little Boat” and is a fun dance song!

Journal #7 (written for Reach the World): Life aboard a research vessel!

Howdy, y’all! Thanks for following along on our expedition. We have been on board the RSV Nuyina for 12 days now and we’ve had quite the journey already! The journey down to 60 S took roughly a week and we’ve hit some bad weather a couple of times. We were supposed to be at the Denman glacier by now but we are still in the Southern Ocean and have headed slightly north to avoid the worst of the storms. The storms have brought blizzards, high winds, big waves, and have made the boat quite rocky! We had a large wave that gave the boat a 11° roll and everything went flying! My chair flew into Kelsey’s! But everyone was okay – we couldn’t stop laughing 😊 Thankfully many of us already have our “sea legs”, otherwise we would be pretty sick. We are largely unable to do operations when the weather is bad so many of us have been working on other research, playing games, watching movies, and eating a lot! 

The food is incredible on the ship and we are offered 4 hot meals a day (even though many of us only have 3) since some of us work in shifts and can’t make another meal time. The Nuyina is a 24-hour operation so you’ll see some people sleeping during the day and working at night and vice-versa. I am grateful that my job – metrology – requires me to mostly be up during daylight hours and our other instruments can run through the night without our help. That means my days are still on a fairly “normal” schedule.

I try to keep myself on a regular schedule to help make the ship feel more like home. My days usually start around 6:30 am when Kelsey and I get up to launch the weather balloon at 7 am. After the launch, we all head to breakfast in the mess. After breakfast, I try to get some emails done and some Duolingo in (got to keep my streak 😉) before I change my filters. Around 9am, one of our team members helps me collect the old filters from the filter towers and swap them with new ones. We then go to the lab on deck 4 and pack the filters for storage at -80° C so we can transport them back to CSU at the end.

Following the filters, I usually help our other atmospheric team members in the air chemistry lab on deck 6 or do some work on my laptop. Before we know it, it’s lunch time! We head to the mess again and grab some lunch. I’m telling you, food is an event here! It is how we can all come together and relax while we’re in the middle of this big expedition. Thank goodness for the excellent Nuyina chefs!

After lunch, we have an afternoon “science talk” where a different member of the science team gets to talk about their research and goals on the ship. The Denman Marine voyage is very interdisciplinary – we have geologists, marine biologists, oceanographers, and of course, atmospheric scientists! I love the science talks because I get to learn something new every day from experts in different fields. For example, after one of the first rock dredges (where they put a device down to the seafloor to collect rocks) we got to see a rock that they think is from continental Antarctica and we learned how they can date it to see how old the rock is. How cool!

A bunch of us then do yoga in the afternoon in the theater. We used to use the heated heli-deck but it’s a little too icy now. Trying to do yoga on a moving boat is quite a challenge, but we all have a great time and it’s a nice way to de-stress during a busy day.

After yoga, I like to check on my filters and make sure everything is running properly. If it is, then I do some more computer work before heading to the gym. The Nuyina has a great little gym on deck 3 with all the equipment you could want – treadmills, yoga mats, weights, weightlifting machines, ergs, bikes, ellipticals, and even a sauna! It’s a great time to go in there with others and put some music on the speaker so we can all jam together!

Dinner is my favorite meal of the day, mainly because the entrees are the best and we usually get a nice, warm dessert to go with it. I definitely have a sweet tooth, and my favorite so far has been the blackberry brioche bread pudding with vanilla ice cream. Who knew life at sea could be so delicious?!

After dinner, most of us either head up to the observation lounge on deck 9 for board games/reading/crafts or to the theater for a movie. We also have a room with a ping-pong table, foosball, and arcade games! There’s almost always something fun going on at night to participate in.  There’s also lots to see while at sea - we’ve already seen many icebergs, birds, and even humpback whales!

If we have downtime, we often help each others’ projects by doing whale observations for the acoustics team (we have to turn off the echosounders if there are whales near), sea ice observations for the ice team, or helping with weather balloon launches. We’ve already had many volunteers to launch the balloons with us – it’s great fun! We can also volunteer to help in the kitchen by cutting veggies or washing dishes. I have not been able to do this yet, but I’ve heard from others that it’s a good time and the chefs are always playing music!

To break up the days we also have some fun events like “wacky Fridays” where everyone dresses up. Last week we all dressed in Hawaiian shirts and everyone looked fabulous! This Friday is Pi Day (March 14  or 3.14) so I have a surprise for everyone. I’m going to dress up as a Pi-rate!

Journal #6 (from Reach the World site): All Aboard the RSV Nuyina!

Introduction:

Welcome back and thanks again for following our journey to Antarctica! For this expedition, we’ll be using the RSV Nuyina (pronounced noy-yee-nah), a new Australian ice breaker. Built in 2018, this is the very first scientific voyage for Nuyina. We are honored to be a part of what will hopefully be many more scientific expeditions for the Nuyina.

How do people get around?:

The ship is quite big – 160.3 meters (or 525.92 feet) long! That is a good thing because it has to house all of the essentials for big scientific voyages such as a galley (cafeteria), gym, sleeping quarters, a hospital, theater, lounges, laundry rooms, and more! It’s basically a big floating village that we can call home for the next two months.

For the sake of The Cleanest Air on Earth Expedition Part 2, we are using the metrology lab on deck 9 and sampling towers just outside of the lab. It is quite a lovely view from our lab and sometimes we even get to go up to deck 11, affectionately known as “monkey island” to fix the radars. After collecting filter samples outside of the metrology lab, we have to travel all the way down to deck 4 to use the wet lab for sterile sample collection and packaging. Traveling five flights of stairs in rough seas is not always easy!

The wet lab on deck 4 is also where we will be collecting our seawater samples from the CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) rosette.

How did I feel when I tried this way of getting around?:

The main difference between Nuyina and the old ship (Investigator) from Cleanest Air on Earth Part 1 is that it is an icebreaker, but it is designed to be able to “ram” into the Antarctic sea ice in order to reach the continent. Aside from scientific expeditions, Nuyina is used to do resupply missions to fixed Antarctic bases as well. In fact, before we set sail, it had just come back from a resupply of Mawson, Casey, and Davis stations! The ship can move pretty fast as well with a max speed of 16 knots, but the more common speed is around 12 to 14 knots.

Is this way of getting around connected to the culture and environment, How?:

This expedition is special because we have so many interdisciplinary teams – atmospheric science, marine biology, hydrochemistry, geology/sediments, benthic trawling (ocean floor), ocean acoustics, and more! It is so much fun to learn about everyone’s backgrounds and to see all the different science teams performing their experiments on the ship. I kind of like to think of it as a grown-up science camp!

After a hard day's work, we all like to come together in the lounge, as well as the theater for movies and games. There are giant chess boards, ping pong and foosball tables, and games everywhere! Staying active while at sea is also key to making it through the voyage,  so we have also formed all kinds of fun groups for yoga, stargazing, aurora chasing*, whale and bird watching, and even running on the heli-deck!

Be sure to take a look at some of the pictures of all of these awesome spaces on board the Nuyina.

*The name Nuyina means “Southern Lights” in the palawa kani language of the Tasmanian aborigines. We definitely hope to see some southern lights (“aurora australis”) while we are down near the coast!

Journal #5 - Bon Voyage!

We boarded the Nuyina on February 28th and officially departed on March 1st. We are heading towards the Denman glacier and I believe we are currently in the Indian Ocean. The roaring forties are no joke - the seas have been quite rough since we left the Tasman sea. I am grateful to not have a lot of seasickness but I know tha tmany are feeling quite ill. Even walking around is quite the challenge right now. On certain parts of the ship when the bow dips it almost feels like anti-gravity. While concerning, it is also quite fun! The ocean is beautiful and encompasses the entire landscape. We have already seen dolphins and a few albatrosses. Crazy to think that the next land we see will be Antarctica! I have been told it could take 7-10 days to make it to the ice, so we will see! It feels like I've already been on the ship forever with all fo the pre-voyage preparation. Overall, it is quite fun on board and everyone on the ship is lovely. I was able to get my first 2 samples today and wow - the amount of sea salt everywhere on the sample towers and railings is insane! Probably going to need to clean it more often than once a week until we get to the continent. Our team helped Kelsey launch the first radiosonde from the Heli deck today which was also quite fun and the microwave radiometer and rain radar seem to be operating nominally. We are supposed to do our first CTD launch tonight as well. The skies are clear and bleu right now, so not a whole lot of interesting data, but gorgeous! Jacob and Salvatore are working in the air chemistry lab on the other side of the boat with all of the aerosol equipment like the SMPS. I am excited to learn more from them!

Journal #4 - Prepping the Nuyina

What a week! Kelsey and I have been on the ship nearly every day (even this past weekend) preparing the INP and meteorological equipment for deployment. The ship is massive and has so many cool labs to help aid us in our data collection. We worked tirelessly to get the INP towers, microwave radiometer, and radiosondes set up before the Nuyina departs for Burnie today (24/2). The ship will refuel in Burnie (northern Tasmania) and then return to Hobart this Friday (28/2) on which day we will board and depart. We are all getting both very excited and nervous. I think I am anxious to get the show on the road (sea?)!  Lots of new photos below :)

Journal #3 - A week in Hobart, Tasmania

Wow! It's already been a full week in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia! We completed the Australian Antarctic Division Expeditioners Summit last week and had a workshop from a previous voyage (MISO) today. While the summit and workshops have been engaging, I am very eager to get started on ship preparations. Starting this Wednesday, we will be permitted on board to start outfitting the boat with our equipment and ensuring everything is ready for embarkment. The Nuyina is currently moored in the harbor near IMAS and boy, is she a sight to see! (Yes, I've decided it's a she) My colleague originally thought she was a cruise ship because she is massive. I am counting down the days until we get to call her home. We plan to embark in roughly 10 days, assuming everything goes according to plan. 

Other than work, Hobart is a lovely city. Very mountainous, with cute little houses and shops tucked into the mountainsides. The locals are very kind and the food scene is actually quite good here (better than Fort Collins!).  I had my first rock lobster roll the other day at the famous Salamanca market and I was in heaven.  I also got to explore Mawson's Hut Replica Museum and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. My team was able to go for a hike up the picturesque Kunanyi/Mt Wellington over the weekend and we got to appreciate the "mountain meteorology", as it was quite cold and windy at the top (and summer temperatures at the bottom). I was also able to buy a cheap bike and explore the intercity cycleway - 15.6 km from Hobart to Claremont. While it is extraordinarily beautiful here, the hills are quite challenging for biking! 

Overall, it's been a lovely time and I am enjoying Hobart. I hope to check out a few more local favorites while I'm still here and I look forward to ship mobilization the rest of the week.  Hope to send you all more updates from the ship!