Murder in the Arctic
The six weeks spent at Atigun Camp was one of the most memorable experiences of my life and represented my first job after graduating university.
But things got even more adventurous on my next assignment that took me even further north to the Arctic Ocean the following summer. I sat in the cargo seat as I was flown in an Air Force transport plane( that I think was called the Flying Boxcar) to a small arctic facility known as the Distant Early Warning Line or DEW Line. I was now just East of Barrow Alaska in Point Lay. This was a phased array radar site with a purpose of detecting any incoming Soviet bombers or rockets from over the North Poll. It was interesting to sit with the person in charge of viewing the radar. He showed me several blips on the large screen that he thought were migrating birds but we didn’ t see any rockets!
My job was to find and evaluate the quality of drinking water for this small camp with around 20 or so workers. Finally, I could use some of my science knowledge in my small laboratory where I determined if the water was potable. One key test that I performed was for E. coli, a bacteria associated with the feces of humans and warmblooded animals.
Photo courtesy of Google
Photo courtesy Google
The real adventure was when I drove my soft wheel snowcat over the tundra for miles to find the perfect water source for the camp. This was an marvelous way to get away from everything and see the Arctic tundra in its pure beauty. Tundra vegetation includes dwarf shrubs, grasses, mosses and lichens that sits on top of soil that is permanently frozen, termed permafrost.
Once I found what looked like the perfect source of water such as a crystal clear small pond, I performed a brief field analysis and if promising I pumped some water into this plastic bladder on the rear of the vehicle and retuned it to camp for further biological evaluation. Driving over the tundra in this rig was really great and the event combined with the camp reminded me of the science fiction movie The Thing.
The summer sun was up for nearly 24 hours a day and on many nights we played softball on the frozen Arctic Ocean starting at midnight. Sleep was not an option as the energy produced by the continual sunlight allowed me to stay awake for several days at a time. During the summer
Eskimo Child, Pt Barrow, Alaska Photo by Barry Epstein
BARRY STEVEN EPSTEIN- PhotoAutobiography DRAFT 32 of 156