Arriving in Nome, Alaska

Photos Credit: Kyle Turner, Jonathan Sherman

​We had a long but safe and successful trip to Nome, AK! Jonathan Sherman and I made it to all of our quick layovers leaving from New York City earlier this morning (but the last plane had to hold for us). We met Chelsea Lopez while boarding for Nome at the Anchorage Airport. As we landed in Nome, Scott Freeman picked us up from the airport, and the team loaded all of our supplies and instruments and headed to the ADF&G (Alaska Department of Fish and Game) bunkhouse, where we were staying in town. Our collaborator Jenefer Bell, Arctic Area Research Biologist with ADF&G, has been so helpful and supportive throughout the planning of our coastal Arctic fieldwork this summer! Our plan over the next few days is to have a 3-day trip with Captain Adem Boeckmann and his large fishing vessel Anchor Point to transect south and collect measurements across a strong marine-coastal-estuarine gradient in Norton Sound and near the Yukon River Delta. Saturday looks like our one chance at (some) sunshine, so we plan to spend Friday steaming and collect the majority of data on Saturday.
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Meanwhile, we've been enjoying the quaint but small town of Nome. We played pool at the local saloon, Nome's oldest saloon since 1900 with an old "gold rush" facade. At that time, Nome was one of Alaska's largest cities, with people flocking to strike it rich in the golden sands. We walked the beach along Norton Sound and admired a sprawling collection of old rusted machinery from Nome's "golden era". The team assembled the optics package that will be used over the next few days to collect profiles of optical parameters, including absorption and backscattering, critical for linking in-situ measurements to satellite imagery. The weather is slightly chilly, but not too bad! I haven't had to pull out my heavy winter coat yet.

​- Kyle Turner