Good day, all.

I just wanted to send everybody a quick update of life in the now-frozen North. We got our first serious, lasting snow of the season, the snow that we get to see until the thaw, which is at the other end of a chasm of several months that yawns at our feet. With the snow comes, of course, the beginning of the regimen...start the car 10 minutes before you leave, scrape the windshield, go back inside to get your mug of piping hot coffee, hop in to the car, and roar off towards Airport Way at a break-neck 10-15 mph. And, of course, the very conservative tack and early braking at the stop lights. All the best a winter can be, and we get a-plenty of that to look forward to.

WORK (that) MATTERS

I have a bit o' good news to share...

Well, apparently, they still like me up here, and my probationary period has been ended and my position is now permanent. Though not overly unexpected, it is indeed a nice feeling. So, that little bit of good news has made my weekend.

In that effort and direction, Gerd informed me that he would like me to initiate a research program, of my choice and design, and as lead author of the anticipated paper which will result. Several ideas were batted about (mostly dealing with snow climatology in the Yukon and Chena River basins, and snow's role in the hydrology budget) at a meeting today, all very interesting, and any of which would be a nice project that would be rewarding and constructive. I made a suggestion, and it struck the bell with the light bulb that was flicked on by the shoe that was on the other foot whilst I was walking a mile in it. (Call Guinness, "Most Clichés in One Sentence")

My suggestion was to do further study into the secondary peak in surface inversion frequency that occurs on the North Slope of Alaska during the summer. In our paper "Rawinsonde climatology, trends, and relationships to atmospheric indices for Barrow, Alaska (1958-1999)", we found a curious anomaly in the occurrence of surface inversions. Usually, as you increase in altitude above the surface of the earth, the temperature of the air decreases, but during a surface inversion, the temperature above the surface INCREASES up to an arbitrary level, then begins to decrease. Well, surface inversions at high latitudes usually occur during winter. Our study showed a very significant increase in the frequency of occurrence of inversions during the winter months that peaked during July. So dramatic was the peak on the graph, that Gerd took one look and stated "This cannot be right." which sounds very impressive and intimidating in a German accent.

Further verification of the data turned up our dilemma..."What in the world is going on?" Well, a brainstorming session between Jan and I left us with one thought...a sea breeze. During the summer months, land is warmed much more easily than ocean. Therefore, during the day the warm air is advected from above the ocean and is swept onto the land due to a pressure gradient, which I will refrain from explaining (I can sense everybody "paging down" to find the joke already anyway). This air would be
sufficient enough to pool warm air above the surface of the land, causing the rawinsonde sounding (aka weather balloon
sounding) record a surface inversion.

Anyway, I am going to be doing an in-depth study of the sea breeze at Barrow and Barter Island, the effect that it has on the surface inversions, and so on. There was a study done about 20 years ago by Kozo, but his data set was rather limited, consisting of August and September data from 3 years, whereas I have over 40 years of data available, and will be focusing on July, when the peak occurs.

Oh, yeah. Just in case you were wondering, "Rawinsonde climatology..." is still in review and will hopefully be back in house for revision in about another month and a half. I will keep everybody apprised of the status, of course...like you could avoid it in the first place...

GOINGS ON

Well, there is a lot going on these days, from anthrax and all of that, to the baseball playoffs.

It turns out that a good friend of mine, Ryan Petersen, with whom I grew up and graduated high school, and who attended
the Air Force Academy, was piloting one of the two USAF F-16s which were scrambled to intercept and escort a
commercial flight on its way to Chicago when it reported an unruly passenger, trying to enter the cockpit. Steve, Ryan's father, informed my mom about it this past week. Wow. It is kind of humbling to know that my good friend could be ordered to shoot down a domestic airliner, should the need arise...quite a time we are living in.

On a bit of the lighter side, it is time for me to be excited about baseball again, as it is the post season. I am the defining character of fair-weather baseball fanning...Opening Day, All Star Game, and Post Season. The Seattle Mariners have had a wonderful season, but face the always tough Tribe from Cleveland. Oakland (with former Alaska Goldpanner, Jeremy Giambi) is dispatching of the Yankees (FINALLY!!!) in a good manner. Over in the NL, Houston was swept by the Atlanta Braves, which gives them their 9th trip to the NLCS in 10 years...wow. And the other series does not feature the Cubs. Sorry, Scotty. I had to.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers continue to look fairly good on the football field. I have watched all of the games that I could, and I am impressed. I think that they may be perhaps one of the most balanced teams on the field...that Nebraska/Oklahoma game is going to be one HECK of a match-up. The result will be different from last year's...mark my word.

ITS THE BRITS

This week's word is:

Glaciers

Working in the sciences as I do, and the geosciences in particular, I get to run into many interesting and very intelligent people. One of the other research groups up here, is the Ice Group, and they study Glay-shurs...well, the Americans study Glay-shurs. The British however, study something much more elegent...they study Glass-ee-urrs.

INJECTIONS D'HUMEUR

In the spirit of the schlacking that NU laid on Iowa State last Saturday, and with preemptive appologies to my brother-in-law, Mike, I announce a special "Iowa Edition" of Injections...

So, this Iowan died and went to Heaven. St. Peter said, "Before I let you in, you have to pass a test."
"Oh, no!" said the Iowan
St. Peter said, "Don't worry. This is easy. Just answer thisquestion: Who was God's Son?"
The Iowan thought and thought, and finally she blurted out,"ANDY!!!"
St. Peter, taken aback, said, "Andy?!?!"
The Iowan said, "Yeah, we sang it in church: 'Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me, Andy tells me I am his own,'"

Another?

Did you hear about the Iowan who went to the public library and checked out a book called "How to Hug"?

He got home and found out that it was actually volume seven of the encyclopedia.

Ok...just one more...

Did you hear about the skeleton that they found in the closet on the Iowa State campus last weekend?

He was the winner of the 1965 Hide and Seek Contest.

Ok, enough of that...I need to find some Baylor jokes for next week...GO HUSKERS!!!

Anyway, that just about does it for this dispatch.

I would like to thank everybody that has voted so far in the Great "Name Brian's Car" Contest...as for the rest of you who haven't voted...what are you waitng for?!?!

Vote! Vote! Vote! It is fun for the WHOLE family!! It may even be tax deductable...well, ok, maybe not. But we could
pretend it is if it will get you into the polls.

Go to http://www.qsl.net/kc0hoj/bmh/contest.html to see the car and all of the nominations

While there you can click on the polar bear at the bottom of the Contest page to visit and explore my whole website,
which features fun stuff like a galleries of pictures, fun with science, funny things I have seen and done, and some
good links.

Here is the main page url: http://www.qsl.net/kc0hoj/bmh/home.html

Well, I had better wrap this up.

Have a great weekend!

Brian "How to Hug" Hartmann