June 6, 2004, at 11:24 AM ADT:
Well we are here, Scott, Jeff, Richard and Dave. Arrived at approx. 9:30 am.
Weather is clear and sunny!!! About 40°F! Let's hope we have clear skies come tomorrow night. From the hotel we can see the beach with sea ice pushed up into a pressure ridge several hundred feet off-shore.
We rented a car. The fine print in the rental agreement nearly blew the deal. Apparently we are not allowed to transport whale blubber in the rental car. But, after some consideration, we rented the car. Whale blubber CAN be transported PROVIDED it is properly wrapped. So we are good to go.
We made it to our hotel....and to our rooms. When everyone is settled in we'll go find a bite to eat. After lunch the plan is to scope things out, find a location to set up our equipment (in case this fine weather continues), etc.
What is really amazing I'm logged into a computer in the lobby of the hotel. The Top of the World Hotel.
More later,
Scott
June 6, 2004 at 7:47 PM ADT
It's 7:30 pm and we just had pizza for dinner while looking at the sea choked Arctic ocean. We have leftovers for breakfast.
Today we drove around Barrow, visited the FAA and NOAA offices to check on weather conditions. We watched as a NOAA weather guy sent up a 4' diameter weather balloon with an attached instrumentation package.
The weather maybe ok for tomorrow......there could be fog but we'll know more later. We also checked into a charter flight in case it's cloudy.
In a few minutes we are going to a spot at the end of the airport runway that provides clear views of the northern horizon to verify the correct field of view. Mike, I'll be able to verify the "due north sun concept".
Hope everyone has clear skies for tomorrow.
Scott
June 7, 2004 at 11:48 AM ADT:
Just had a late breakfast and now we are about to make some solar filters for tonight's event. The weather is foggy, however, the sky is blue and the sun is punching through. Let's hope it holds for the next 10 or so hours. We are going to visit the NOAA weather office here in a little bit to check out the forecast.
Jeff wants to climb a very tall whale spotting platform we discovered on the beach to take a 360° panorama photograph. We'll do that this afternoon.
Visited the grocery store last night. Looks like any other small town grocery store complete with every type of fruit and vegetable one would expect to find not withstanding the fact we are in Barrow. Milk is $7.99 per gallon, bananas are $2.09 per pound, a quart of ice-cream is $8.99.
Prepared food prices are a little more than Anchorage but not too extreme.
Lets hope for clear skies.....
Scott
June 8, 2004, at 1:42 PM ADT:
We saw it all. We had intermittent fog at times but we saw it all.
First contact: 9:15:28
Second contact: 9:34:23
Third contact: 3:00:45
Fourth contact: 3:20:15
We were not required to charter a plane....we set up in the lee of the Barrow Utilities Co-op maintenance building (to get out of the wind) located on the west end of the main runway. The General Manager of Barrow Utilities, Ben Frantz, came out and opened the building and provided hot coffee, toilet facilities, and warmth which ensured everyone's comfort.
We had dozens of locals show up providing us with a perfect public outreach effort. Mike Orelove and Andy (from Soldotna) joined us in the evening and brought our expedition (the TOWTOVE Expedition) number to 7.
TOWTOVE = Top Of the World Transit Of Venus Expedition.
Willy and Verena of BC, Canada (both originally from Switzerland) were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in Barrow and views of the transit were the icing on the cake of their trip.
At times fog would roll in across the Arctic Ocean ice and obscure the sun to where the sun could not be seen in filtered equipment. When this happened, sometimes it was possible to see the black dot of the sun on the face of the solar disc with the naked, unfiltered eye.
During the transit we were treated to muktuk (a boiled whale skin/blubber combination). Jeff Medkeff traded a whole sheet of Baader astro film for a 1/2 full Cool Whip container for the remaining muktuk. Tasted somewhat fishy and my portion of the skin was gritty with sand.
We all took dozens of photos of the event. I videotaped the first hour although the tape became stuck in the camcorder and will require professional intervention. Hopefully it can be recovered. Photos will of the transit and the trip will be posted soon.
Scott, way up north (in Barrow).