Today was our last day in Barrow.  Our final task was to go back to the research hut and improve the weather station mount.  The day before the weather was about 40 degrees with a sustained 20MPH wind.  Today it was almost 50 degrees and it was very calm, so we thought we were going to have it easy.  Unfortunately, that is perfect weather for mosquitoes.  The mosquitoes in Alaska aren’t your typical mosquitoes, either.  They are gigantic and swarm around you.  It is very unnerving.  To ward them off, we wore netting and raw deet.

Out on the tundra, there was a 5MPH wind.  If I stood in one place I created a wind block so the mosquitoes would gather in that draft behind me.  After about 20 seconds I could literally hear the bzzzzzzz of the gathering swarm of mosquitoes in the draft.  I was actually wishing for the return of the cold and wind from the day before so I didn’t have to deal with the mosquitoes.  Yuck!

After our work was done on the tundra and we showered to remove all of the deet, we took one last tour of the town before our flight.  We got to see the northern most football field in the US.  The field is Astroturf and is located Continue reading “Attack of the Arctic Mosquitoes” →