Sara Crepinsek talked with middle school students in Erie, Colorado, fall 2016, about her work as an Arctic scientist, technician and data manager. Installing instruments in such a remote and harsh location can be a challenge, but it's clearly one she relishes. Sara works in NOAA's Physical Sciences Division
2. Where is the Arctic?
Map image: https://pixabay.com/en/globe-world-map-earth-32299/
Globe image: https://pixabay.com/en/earth-blue-planet-globe-planet-11015/
You are here!
USA
3.
4. Arctic vs Antarctic
Photo credit: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/polar-opposites-arctic-and-antarctic
5. Ocean vs Land
• Temperature (thermal) differences
• Land will heat faster than water
• Land will cool faster than water
• Water takes more energy to heat or cool
• Ice melt differences
• Ice on land that melts will contribute to sea level rise
• Ice in water that melts will not contribute to sea level rise
6. Arctic Database Manager
• Collect data
• Move data (flow process)
• Organize and interpret data files
• Make data available to public
• Document data information
• Analyze data
• Publish results from data
Photo credit: http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/994392-penguins
7. Arctic Scientist &
Technician
• Collect and move data
• Install instrumentation in the field
• Mechanics and electrical work
• Instruments to transmit data to server
• Transmit between international servers
• DON’T GET HURT IN THE FIELD!
• Tower training
• Arctic survival training
• First Aid/Wilderness survival training
15. Publications!
• Prepare and organize your results
• Submit results to scientific journal
• Results are peer reviewed by other scientists
in your field
• Results are either accepted/not accepted by
journal
• Results are published
• Educate the world!
17. From Wonder Woman to Arctic Scientist
• Born and raised in Montrose, Colorado
• Attended University of Colorado at Boulder, graduated 2010
• Bachelor Degree in Environmental Science/Climatology
• Started at NOAA in 2010
• Geomagnetism Division, 2010
• Ozone department/Global Monitoring Division, 2010 - 2012
• Polar Observations & Processes/Physical Sciences Division, 2012 - present
• Attending University of Colorado at Boulder, 2018
• Masters Degree in Physical Geography/Arctic Sciences
18. Climatology
• Weather vs Climate
• Weather = short term (days)
• Climate = long term (decades)
• Our world is changing
• Arctic amplification
• Arctic will see changes first
• What changes do you see?
“As the Northern Hemisphere's refrigerator, the Arctic influences
climate patterns well beyond the boundaries of the Arctic itself.
The loss of the ice cover changes the refrigerator, and climate
patterns in turn. How does Arctic amplification work? Sea ice helps
to keep the Arctic atmosphere cold. Its whiteness reflects much of
the Sun's energy back to space, and it physically insulates the Arctic
atmosphere from the underlying Arctic Ocean. With less sea ice,
the refrigerator door is left open: more dark open water is exposed,
which readily absorbs the Sun's energy in summer, heating the
ocean and leading to even more melt. With less sea ice there is also
less insulation, so that heat from the ocean escapes to warm the
atmosphere in the autumn and winter.”
- Serreze, M.C., A.P. Barrett, J.C. Stroeve, D.N. Kindig, and
M.M. Holland. 2009. The emergence of surface-based Arctic
amplification. The Cryosphere 3, 11-19, 2016,
nsidc.org/about/monthlyhighlights/2009/09/arctic-
amplification. Accessed 2 November 2016.
