Name: Kelly M. Brunt
Title: Associate Research Scientist
Organization: Code 615, Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Sciences and Exploration Directorate
What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission?
I am an ice-sheet researcher and am part of the ICESat-2 Project Science Office at Goddard. ICESat-2 will study changes in ice-sheet thickness and the contribution of that change to mean sea level. My role is validating the satellite data. I take satellite elevation data and compare it directly to ground-based elevation data. To get the ground-based data, I am often sent into the field, specifically to the ice sheets.
How did you become interested in studying ice?
Growing up in Connecticut, I always loved winter, snow and skiing, especially alpine ski racing. I still love skiing because it reminds me of my family, since we all skied together.
I have always loved the earth sciences. I have a bachelor’s degree in geology from Syracuse University and I have a master’s in geology from the University of Montana. I have a Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Chicago with a focus in glaciology. During my post-doc at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, I used NASA ICESat data to study ice along the edges of Antarctica. My post-doc adviser later helped me join Goddard’s ICESat-2 project.
Along the way, did you do any special field work?
After my master’s degree, I worked for three years in Anchorage, Alaska, and for four years in Antarctica, with a home base in Denver, Colorado, doing both Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing. Antarctica and the middle of Alaska do not have adequate maps for most researchers. My job was to provide the geospatial information required by researches to get them where they needed to go and come back safely.
What deep field work have done for NASA involving ice sheets?
For NASA, I have done deep field work in both Antarctica and in Greenland, which involved going to the center of these ice sheets. My shortest NASA field work trip was two weeks in Greenland and my longest was two months in Antarctica.
Please describe your latest NASA deep field work.
I was in Antarctica from early December 2017 to the end of January 2018, which is during the Antarctic summer. I was conducting a 450-mile ground-based vehicle traverse based out of the South Pole Station to support ICESat-2 data validation efforts.
We flew commercially to New Zealand and then took a military aircraft to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, which is the National Science Foundation’s largest base in Antarctica. McMurdo supports research all over the continent, including the South Pole.
We sent most of our science gear to the South Pole ahead of our arrival. The NSF provided us with the two tracked vehicles and some 60-foot long plastic sleds to carry our tents and gear.
Goddard sent two scientists including myself and we were joined by a mountaineer (for deep-field safety) and a mechanic. Our trip went really, really smoothly. On this type of deep field trip, you always expect something to go wrong, but everything went extremely well.
How was your traverse an experiment for the Antarctic program?
We had two PistenBullys, one for each group of two people. PistenBullys are fairly large tracked vehicles that are tough enough to get through just about any snow and ice. These are the same vehicles that often groom ski resort slopes.
We initially set up our tents in a line on the long plastic sleds before the traverse began and then traveled the 450 miles with them fully assembled. As we traversed, the PistenBullys pulled our entire camp behind us which remained set up on plastic sleds. Every night we camped someplace new and we never had to set up or tear down camp. That was pretty ideal.
In the past, people have used smaller vehicles, even snowmobiles, with stationary camps, or they have used much larger vehicles and towed hard-sided structures for sleeping. Our relatively light-weight traverse was the first of this length with this type of pre-assembled configuration. We hope to become a model for future field research of this scale, essentially providing a new option.
What is it like being in the deep field for two weeks with the same three other people?
Two weeks is actually a pretty short time in the deep field. Our days were filled with driving and accomplishing the science. Our evenings were filled with camp-type activities such as making dinner. We were all kept very busy which made the time fly.
Every deep-field camp has a different setup. Our camp had a kitchen tent, a bathroom tent and four individual sleeping tents. We could be alone or socialize as we wished.
Breakfast was coffee with an energy bar. Then, we basically ate like we were on a road-trip all day, beef jerky, chips and other normal road-trip foods. Dinner was a real meal, which we took turns cooking. My special treat was maple syrup energy packs direct from a friend in Vermont.
We spent most of our days inside the warm vehicles. We also had special heavy clothing for the elements.
While traversing, we stopped every two hours to check the vehicles and the science equipment, grab more food from the cargo boxes or use the bathroom tent at the end of the line.
During the Antarctic summer, the sun is always up and the temperatures for us ranged from about minus 15 F to minus 5 F. We were really comfortable sleeping at night. Our tents were on the sleds and up on pallets, and each of us had three foam pads that lifted us even higher off of the ice. I had two down sleeping bags, one rated to minus 40 F, tucked inside a second rated at minus 32 F. I slept just in thermals.
What were the roles of the mountaineer and the mechanic?
Both the mountaineer and the mechanic were essential members of our field team. The mountaineer’s main job was field safety, such as ensuring that we did not run into any crevasses and that people stayed warm in the extreme temperatures. He also watched the group for symptoms of high altitude sickness since the entire trip was above 10,000 feet.
One of our biggest concerns was keeping the vehicles running in the extreme environment. We had a fantastic mechanic whose preventative maintenance kept these vehicles running without incident for the entire two-week traverse.
While most of us had been in the deep field before, we received training at McMurdo Station that reminded us about the challenges associated with this type of extreme camping. Also, all four of us had taken some first aid training prior to this trip.
How did the team celebrate Christmas and New Years in Antarctica?
We spent Christmas at the South Pole and had a real Christmas meal. The NSF’s kitchen crew at South Pole Station really puts on the dog for big holidays.
For New Years, we were out on the traverse about 150 miles from the station. We were so busy with our daily routine that we forget it was New Year’s Eve. However, we realized it was New Year’s Day, mainly because we had to fill out our daily logs which included a date. So we toasted a happy New Year over our coffee. One of the field team members then quickly jumped up to call his wife on our satellite phone.
What is the most memorable part of this trip for you?
I had been somewhat exposed to it before, but there is a real beauty to the stark and flat nature of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. We were able to see our fuel caches, three 55-gallon fuel drums strapped together, from just under a couple of miles away. The snow that is blown into the air column creates an effect called sun dogs and sun pillars which are really beautiful.
But what I fear is that this past season will be remembered as the only season during which we didn’t experience mechanical issues in the deep field.
When are you returning to the deep field?
For the next three calendar years, I will remain part of this NASA project and return to the field from early December to late January. However, the other team members may change.
Did you keep a field log?
Yes, Tom Neumann and I wrote notes from the field complete with photographs: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/category/icesat-2-antarctic-traverse/
Do you have any hobbies?
I downhill ski as much as I can. I also coach kids in a junior Alpine racing program. We just sent 14 of our athletes to the Pennsylvania State Championships.