Day 1: Friday May 8 2009

GATHERING THE RANKS

Our first Day consisted of an introductory meeting, construction of screens, and cataloging of the equipment to be used throughout the project.

During the introductory meeting in the morning we were reminded of the goal of our research, what organizations we would be working with, whom we would be working with, and what was expected of us. The goal of our research is to find insight into the long term human adaptation to climate change in the arctic through excavation and the study of climate models. The organizations we will be working as part of are: The International Polar Year, National Science Foundation, European Science Foundation, and the Finnish Academy of Sciences. Our research team consists of multi-national mix of the brightest professors, graduate, and undergraduate students who are from, the University at Buffalo (USA), McGill University (Canada), University of Oulu (Finland), Villanova University (Spain) and from France. We will also be working with a high school teacher from California, Michael Wing, who is part of PolarTREC . PolarTREC is a program that works with Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating in the Arctic to encompass learning experiences in both the Arctic and Antarctic. You can find his blog of his time working with us at www.polartrec.com.

During the afternoon we constructed the screens and cataloged equipment. Three screens were constructed. Two fine screens and one coarse. They were put together using only a hand saw, drill, wood, screen, and screws.

The final note of the day was to report to the University at Oulu at 7:30 AM ready to work.