Just because, Helicopter

Gratuitous helicopter footage.

Takeoff!

Time to go south.

Today is my last day at the Toolik Field Station. It has definitely been an interesting couple of weeks. I have enough projects to keep me busy for 5 years, let a lone the 1 year of the grant. There's everything from larger-scale novel networking approaches to building Arduino "scientific accessories" for Google Glass. The big lesson to be learned though, is that just about anyone can benefit from a little bit of technology in their workflow....but thinking creatively on how to apply technology is the real challenge. I'm pretty sure my work would have been pretty short here if I would have shown up with only Google Glass and only was interested in applying that specific device to science problems. The same would have been true if I only was here to do AWS work. But, putting the two together, and then throwing in some ideas on using Arduino to augment commodity technology, and a little bit of the national and university scientific landscape helped immensely. The grant is about building a few Google Glass projects, but more importantly it's about figuring out how to help accelerate science with the technology that can be afforded. Sometimes, the biggest most impressive gear isn't really what you need in the field. It is also often cost prohibitive. You might be able to get away with a cheaper grade of say, laser or IR, that will still serve the purpose but not take over your entire budget. Software is also the key to making commodity technology just as good as the proprietary stuff. Proprietary software is still generally stand-alone, and well proprietary, which makes the technology itself less desirable if there is a cheaper, more integratable solution that can still do the job at lesser resolution. This isn't of course the truth for every experiment, but it's definitely a shift in thinking that wasn't present even a few years ago.

Fox - from the Haul Road to Deadhorse, AK

So I have a lot of work ahead of me, but this has definitely been a productive trip. Barring the issues with the video call removal on Google Glass, and a disappointing but expected wireless network performance, things went very well. Hopefully video calling will be back on Glass soon, and the fiber network should be up at the station sometime before summer ends. Oh, and if anyone reading this is interested in doing a little start-up work building tablet / Google Glass accessories for scientific field work, private message me on Google+ or email me.

Caribou crossing the road - Haul Road to Deadhorse, AK

Dear Google. I love thee....but right now, I hate thee.

So things have been going extremely well with introducing Google Glass to research in the Arctic. Amazon Web Services have also taken hold with researchers here too. Unfortunately for me, Google Glass has decided to make a most unfortunately feature removal during the most critical time. They have removed the video call feature from Glass, citing that explorers in the beta program said the feature wasn't good enough and it wasn't being used by enough people. Well, obviously the squeaky wheel got the grease because I am now dead in the water with the educational component of my grant. True, Google says the video call feature will come back, but now is the time we would be having our PolarTREC instructors going out into the field to teach remote classroom activities. Granted, I will be working on other applications for Glass for the project, but this turn of events is extremely unfortunate and really quite a turn off. I'm hoping I'll be able to get a previous version of glass software loaded onto my Glass units, or get a future version where video calling is again a feature or I'll be holding off a bit from purchasing a few more for the station's use.

Bummer Google.

Day 7 - Prep work for PolarTREC

PolarTREC is a teaching and learning component of the Arctic programs.

http://www.polartrec.com/

We will be experimenting with Google Glass in PolarTREC, specifically for virtual field trips into the tundra with polar researchers. Since the wireless signal at Toolik only goes out about a quarter to third of a mile from camp, we're limited to field trip experiences in the area around the station. This is not such a big deal though, since there's quite a bit to see just within a few feet of the buildings. I'll be doing some additional testing for this initiative today.

On a totally different note....the mosquitoes are coming. Unfortunately I think for good this time. The little cold spell (with snow) killed them off a few days ago but I'm starting to see both the monster-size ones and the little ones. The monster ones are pretty freaky actually. Here's a sample of their size:

Mosquitoes are actually the worst in the Arctic than anywhere else in the world, (yes, even jungles). It's all of the standing water that sits on top of permafrost. The permafrost prevents the water from absorbing into the ground, and all of the wet vegetation in the standing water is mosquito larvae heaven. So the golden hour of awesome weather without mosquitoes is ending with no relief in sight until August.

Day 6 - Back to the old routine

So it doesn't take long to fall into a routine here. Especially when you are fed 3 square meals a day at specific times, and the sun never goes down so you kind of need to purposely find some sort of normal in a sleeping schedule. It's a nice sunny day today, and pretty warm (t-shirt with pants is feeling tropical). This means all of the scientists that rely on decent weather to observe bird activities, insects and other wildlife are out all day today. The bird observers probably have the most dramatic day of everyone, as their day is pretty much a treasure hunt for bird nests. Not only that, they are looking for birds in the process of building the nests. Checking on sensors and other instruments seems less glamorous when the birders arrive back from their hunt.

I was able to get some basic wi-fi boundaries testing done today. This involved walking out on the "boardwalk" a.k.a. an extremely long dock, to get to the research land plots. Unfortunately the wi-fi ended right before most of the research areas, so it looks like some wi-fi extension or creative network architecture is in order if researchers want to use any sort of wi-fi device out there. This of course, was kind of what we expected.

The boardwalk is not exactly easy going all of the time, as some areas are still covered with a good 3-4 ft of snow. However, the section in the video was clear of snow and a nice morning walk.

Tonight I will be the entertainment for the evening, and give a talk about Google Glass and Amazon Web Services.

Another nice feature of the camp is the sauna. You only get 2 showers a week, so the sauna is a nice way to warm up and then wash up by pouring water over yourself. I also love the smell of woodsmoke, so that's nice too.

Here are some nice ice chunks breaking up as Toolik Lake thaws for the summer.

Day 5 - Sunday a day of kind of resting

Today the camp is a bit slower than it usually is during the 6 day work week. Some people are still out collecting samples, even in the rain. I've been alternating between napping and working, although my working is not going to be more than reading today. I've been working on some data gathering of my own, which is finding the actual end of the wireless signal around camp. I've also been dong some internet speed tests. Yesterday I rode the mountain bike out, although I didn't go far, to the end of the wireless from the road side of camp. Tomorrow I hope to get out on the "boardwalk" I.e. really long doc system, over the tundra to see where the internet ends on the experiment side of camp. If we can get signal roughly a mile out, we can provide wireless to about 56% of Toolik research plots.

That would open up opportunities for better data collection validity to start, as well as more immediate processing of data in the field, which could ultimately improve sampling planning, awareness and finally better models.