North Slope Students Begin Science Field Trips

Published: 27 October 2011

In early October, operations staff at the ARM North Slope of Alaska site in Barrow hosted a tour for third-grade students from Fred Ipalook Elementary School. This tour kicks off a series of field trips coordinated by the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium outreach program. They are taking local students to various science organizations on the North Slope to give the students a general idea of the types of research going on, why it is in Barrow, and to encourage them to pursue careers related to science.

Walter Brower, Barrow site facilities manager for ARM, escorted the group while explaining what the instruments do and how they collect data for climate research. The students were very interested in all the different types of instruments for measuring clouds and radiation, asking questions about what each piece of equipment was and how it worked. They also really enjoyed seeing the total sky imager and then viewing the photos taken by the instrument’s camera on a monitor inside the instrument shelter.

Due to the arrival of bitter cold temperatures on the North Slope, additional student visits will resume at a later date. For more photos of the recent tour, see the ARM Flickr collection.