CReSIS All-Hands Retreat

I had to write a blurb for our web page so I figured I might as well post it on my blog so you all know what I am doing. BTW The GRID part is me lol.

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Held in the scenic town of Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, the purposes of the CReSIS All-Hands Retreat were to both decide which experiments were going to take place in the field, and secondly to allow the faculty and staff of CReSIS to meet.


The fieldwork consists of Polar Study Seasons in both Greenland, and Antarctica. The Greenland study will take place in either May or June of 2008 before the ice begins to thaw. During this time the seismic studies of the ice sheets will be taken to assist in learning of the structure of the ice sheets. This research along with core samples will allow 3-D models to be designed that will be used to track ice sheet movement, and melting. Two portable GRID computer systems will be field tested during this time to process raw data. This data will then be used to help decide the next day’s selection of study area. The Antarctic study will take place in November or December of 2008. During the Antarctic study the debut of an 1100 pound unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will highlight the study session. This UAV will primarily be utilized to study glaciers, which are not safe for on-the-ground human study. The then perfected portable GRID will process the data directly from the UAV storage devices to select the next study area.

The secondary purpose of the retreat was communication. Scientist, and technologist often have a disconnect to the big picture of how a project that is being worked on, relates to others. The retreat allowed those multiple subsections of CReSIS to meet, and to establish dialogues. Sensor staff met with robotics staff. GRID specialist met with data processing staff. Radar specialist met with power staff. Due to the realized need for a centralized repository of information about the different persons who work on the CReSIS project, a decision for an on-line profile for every member was added as a goal for the technology group. Along with student mapping these additions by far will add to the success of the research project by opening those doors of communication across areas of specialization.

I am not alone lol

So I am down in MO for a CReSIS conference. The whole point of this conference is for fellow scientist and researchers to meet so we can make sure we are all on the same page or at least in the same book--ok at least the same state lol. Anyway big words abound and plans are unrolled and rolled back. Mean while I'm sitting there going what the hell. Yeah ummm I didn't know about any of that lol. Apparently my whole job at EC is revolving around research for CReSIS. Cool, now I know lol. So anyway last night some of the conference members and myself gathered together to watch a movie and ind of get to know each other a bit better. Well I was talking to one person when I just couldn't take it anymore. I asked the all important question. "What the hell are we supposed to be doing?lol" She fell out laughing and said "you too?? I thought it was just me lol. " So apparently we need to make a key item on the agenda "What you should know about CReSIS when you Begin" or some type of orientation thing cause everyone is lost accept the older professors that have been in it from the beginning. So basically here is what I have to do as far as I have figured out. My job is to take data and process it using MATLAB on the GRID. I am supposed to make two portable GRID systems for deployment in Greenland next summer and then again in Antarctica next December. Sweet ok now I can deal with that. Now one question...how do I use MATLAB lol?? I know I will get there but this is gonna take some hard work ..but hey, at least it is educational work instead of corporate crap.