Thank You!

So far, our trip has been fantastic.  We're headed north to Flagstaff tomorrow but are stopping in Phoenix to visit a broadcast meteorologist at one of the network news studios and the state climatologist at the Central Arizona Project canals.  All of these site visits have been arranged by Barbara Levine and Mike Mogil of How the Weatherworks.  They've been fantastic in helping plan and carry out our Winterim adventure.  We'll certainly have more thank yous for them before it's all over.
-Michelle Ruby & Barbara Greene

Thursday- Day 3

 

 To start the day we went to the Saguaro National Park Visitor Center. There we watched a short clip about the desert and after we went outside and learned about the different plant life. The man that was lecturing us, Tom Greene, had a daughter who went to LA about 20 years earlier. Small world! We hiked on a trail that contained rocks with very old drawings. Native Americans drew these many years ago. After lunch, we then headed off to the Sonoran Desert Museum and split into groups. Each group visited a different section of wildlife and a part of the park. It was almost like a small zoo that was centrally focused on desert life. We were short on time so we went straight to the National Weather Service Tucson Office at Arizona University. There we learned about weather balloons as well as different parts of the weather services they provided nationwide. After a great a presention done by Ken Drozd, we were able to watch a real weather balloon launch (by Ricardo Humphreys)! It was very impressive but a much shorter process than expected. After all this fun we walked around the university campus (it was very pretty and green) we ate dinner at Chipotles. We had ice cream for dessert and walked back to the National Weather Service to watch a presentation at the monthly meeting of the local American Meteorological Society chapter done by Mr. Mogil (with lots of help and organization from Ms. Levine). Many of us were also able to participate in it as well. This presentation ended  the day and we went back to the house with sun tans (many burnt) and a wealth of knowledge.

-Jaly, Jeff

2nd Day in Arizona: Biosphere

Today we went to the Biosphere 2 where we saw many indoor ecosystems. When we arrived, we got a tour of the whole area and we saw a rainforest, an ocean, a desert, and many other ecosystems that were all inside of the dome. To start off the tour, we were informed about the process by which the Biosphere 2 was built. It was first tested with seven people who were lived in the biosphere for two years to see if they could survive without any outside resources. We learned all of this while sitting where the actual tested people lived. After that we got to see and spend time within each ecosystyem. The final part of the tour we went to the 'lung' of the biosphere where we saw all of the mechanics. When we exited the 'lung' we got blown with very strong air and Winston thought the entire experience was majestic. Then we took a break to eat our lunches and during lunch Ines and Hanna jumped and screamed from wasps multiple times. Although this did not stop the bees from coming it was funny to watch. After a short talk about rocks we went to the gift shop where we all only bought food. On the way home we had music parties in the car rides while navigating ourselves to our next destinations. Later we stopped to walk around Tucson and we walked along a walking tour. When we got back to the house we played a huge game of BS and spoons. It was so loud that Mr. Mogil had to calm us down. Jeff, Asia, Ally, and Jaly cooked us all fettuccine alfredo with cheesy bread and 'white trash' for dessert. (White trash is a surprise.) To end the night, we wrote in our journals to reflect on the day.
By Ben and Margaret

First Full Day in Arizona

Today marked our first full day in Arizona.  We landed in Phoenix late last night and, after collecting our bags and finding our rental vans, spent a couple of hours driving to Tucson.  By the time we arrived at our house (2:30am local time, 4:30am Massachusetts time). everyone was wiped out and a little slaphappy.  This morning had a slow start.  After an introduction to weather and geography, we went into Tucson to the Vaisala offices to see Ron Holle, a lightnening expert.  Vaisala is a Finnish company which makes weather instrumentation.  The Tucson office is the headquarters of their lightning detection network.  We learned how sensors can remotely locate a lightning strike, how lightning forms, and that the only safe places in the event of lightning are inside a recently occupied building and inside a car with a solid metal roof.

One of the big exciting things we saw coming out of the airport last night was a cactus along the side of the road.  Margaret and Lisa were so excited that they hugged the cactus next to the parking lot when we made a pit stop.  (Don't worry, they were careful.)  Here's Tim making friends with one of the cacti right outside our house during our walk this afternoon.  We found lots of species of desert plants, including saguaro cacti, prickly pears, cholla, barrel cacti (in blume right now!), and palo verde trees.  We also found sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks.  Mike Mogil, our resident meteorologist and guide extraordinaire found one with fossilized shell imprints.

picture by Alaina

As we cooked dinner and wound down from the day, the clouds and virga (rain that evaporates before reaching the ground) lifted enough to deliver a spectacular sunset.

picture by Ms. Ruby

We'll keep you all updated as we venture all throughout the state of Arizona.  Tomorrow we're headed for the Biosphere. 

Welcome!

This blog will become a record of the Winterim trip Geoscience in the Wild, which will take place from March 4-15, 2013.  Check back during those dates to see pictures and logs of our adventures in Arizona.