Iceland Diary
View from Reykjavik looking over Faxaflói Bay. Credit: Richard C. Lewis

August 26: The mission begins – with groceries and ATVs

Science writer Richard C. Lewis is traveling with Brown planetary geologists in arctic Iceland, where the researchers are testing remote-sensing equipment that was used to sample and evaluate the surface of Mars. The first of Lewis’s dispatches sets the stage for the group’s trip to a remote campsite.
Previously: 8.22 – Overview  ||    Slide Show
By Richard C. Lewis  |  August 26, 2008  |  Email to a friend

REYKJAVIK [Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008] —  It’s the day before the team leaves for the field, and preparations are taking place in earnest.

Jack [Mustard, professor of geological sciences] and Bethany [Ehlmann, graduate student] arrived this morning at the airport in Keflavik, about 45 minutes west of the capital, Reykjavik. They are renting a four-wheel drive, all-purpose, all-terrain vehicle and driving it to the capital. The team will need this transport to load up on supplies and ferry everyone to the field site.

Meanwhile, Mike [Wyatt, assistant professor of geological sciences] and Ulyana [Horodyskyj, graduate student] have been extensively scouting the area where the research will take place. After attending a volcanism conference in Reykjavik, they went on a sponsored tour with Brown geological sciences professor Jim Head and four other graduate students. In an e-mail to our group, Mike wrote that the mission was fruitful: “We have already learned a lot about the area [where] we will be collecting samples.”

Mike also asked Jack and Bethany to outfit the ATV with a global positioning system in deference to the remoteness of the research site. “We have all the road maps and topographical maps you can buy in Iceland,” Mike said, “but a GPS will come in very, very handy.”

A doorway in Reykjavik: A doorway in Reykjavik Tomorrow Mike and Ulyana will fly back to Reykjavik. Meanwhile, Jack, Bethany, and I will drive to the international airport in Keflavik and rent a second all-purpose vehicle. Our group then will go shopping – stocking up on food and perhaps other supplies Mike and Ulyana recommend based on their reconnaissance. This will be bare-bones stuff, mostly nonperishable canned items and food that can be easily – and quickly – cooked after a long day in the field. No designer food here.

After shopping, our group will pick up Mike and Ulyana at the domestic airport in Reykjavik and drive to Akureyri, located in the north-central section of Iceland. We probably won’t arrive until near midnight, so we’ll stay overnight at a guesthouse in Akureyri and drive two to three hours to the first campsite the next morning.

And then the real work begins.