16 October 2002 - Training Day #1 I should explain that a different member of the team is writing the update each day. Today, it's my (Stacy's) turn. We met for breakfast at a reasonable hour - 7 am - in the beautiful new galley, to go over the day's plan. We have several training courses to go through before we can begin our work, and we will start the classes today. We had a general orientation at 9 am, where the supervisors of each support group, and the leaders of each science group, introduced themselves. The amount of support we have is incredible, with experts to advise us with any detailed information we need. Then we had the tour and safety briefing for working in the Crary Laboratory, which is named after a geologist and glaciologist who was the first person to go to both the South and the North poles. After lunch we went to a driver training class. For driving around on land there are regular 4 wheel drive trucks and vans with some specializations in the brakes, and for driving on the sea ice, we will use track vehicles called Pisten-Bullys. Driving them, you feel like you are driving a small tank. Either that, or a spaceship. The tracks allow you to rotate in place, the front window extends to your feet, and your top speed is 25 miles per hour. Judging from the big smiles, everyone had a great time learning a new driving skill in a vehicle that is a little intimidating, but also sort of like a large toy.

In the evening, I gave the science lecture in the Crary Lab. I expected that the audience would be rather small, mostly scientists and technicians. But the turnout was quite large, so I was even more nervous! However, it went well, and several people asked great questions at the end. One group of Australians are studying sponge/bacteria interactions, and they are very interested in the impacts of bacteria from the outfall. It sounds like we can develop some very productive collaboration with them. We finished the evening with hot chocolate at the Coffee House…well, we actually finished with everyone helping me rearrange the furniture in the room that Kathy and I will share!