SummerAtSummit

So it looks like all the things are up and running smoothly, so there won’t be any more headaches for the next 4 weeks. (yeah, right) The bulk of my time spent working revolves around use of ion chromatography to determine the concentrations of certain species in various types of samples. The main focus is air samples, but analyzing firn air (at about 10 cm depth) and aerosols (i.e. really small particles in air) are also part of my job description. Yesterday I posted a couple photos of the interior of “Sat Camp” and one of the IC systems, which is the building in the distance of some previous images. The building is where I spend most of my time, thankfully not always working on that apparatus. Here is an interior shot:

The pen in front is for scale. A liquid sample is placed in the small brown bottle to the left of the pen, drawn into the system by a syringe pump at the back of the box, and then sent through either an anion (negative charge) or cation (positive charge) column. Fortunately it isn’t as complicated as it looks and I won’t make it sound too technical. Luke, the other UNH student who is up here for a few weeks and training me on everything, summed it up to me by saying that we are basically glorified plumbers. In a sense it’s accurate, since my biggest responsibility is to get the liquid from one end of the system to the other. The internal pressure is generally from 1500 – 2000 psi, so leaks can and do happen, but I don’t have to worry about making integral parts.

Here are a couple more pictures to fill out this post.

Here’s the view out of the back door of the building after most of the drifting was done. I’ll leave you with a cool shot from outside so those of you sweltering in summer heat can cool off for a bit.

I see now that it’s around 2am, so that should be it for me…as usual, there will be more to come. -Jeff