July 22

Dispatch 8
New pressure ridges and plently of open water.

LOCATION: 89.28N 02.14E

Last night the winds peaked and by morning the temperature had risen to 32 degrees.  My tent was pelted by rain and sleet from a squall in the early AM.  The barometer remained low and the cloud ceiling dropped, but fortunately it did not turn into ground fog.  The wind storm opened up the leads around camp.  What were once narrow leads of less than 10 meters are now like small rivers in width.  There is water all around.  My 100 meter square ice block floats safely and faired well in the storm.  The only damages are a few cracks on the west corner.  The shear zone to the north of me took a pounding.  There are a lot of new pressure ridges and plenty of open water.  Throughout the day, the winds subsided and eventually the rain stopped.  Now, in late evening, it is quiet for the first time in 3 days.

In the last 24 hours I have drifted over 9 miles to the E-S-E.  A short while ago I watched the read-out on my GPS (global positioning system).  This is a small hand-held electronic device the size of a TV remote control.  It locks into a system of high orbiting satellites and computes my position to within 10 yards.  I watched the GPS change as I drifted over the Greenwich meridian or zero degree longitude that separates the earth into east and west.  My tiny home is now in the eastern hemisphere.

I am comfortable here and it feels like home.  I spent my "action" hours of the day preparing for my pick-up.  I am re-packing gear and, as usual, working on the telecommunications.  Sometimes I just sit in silence in the tent but often I walk around and around my home ice block observing my surroundings.  In a way, this is a retreat.  It is not often you have this much spare time and I appreciate it.  My thoughts are mostly here on the ice.  I am in a good rhythm now, although I will be on a 24-hour standby after my next sleep in a few hours.

I will have to keep on writing short in order to conserve my batteries for my important communications during my pick-up.  We have a good system of communications set up that I will describe at a later date when power permits.

It amazes me still that I am isolated here in a cloud bank near the North Pole and  I am able to send these journal entries and photos out to you.  I have spent many years in these claustrophobic tents writing in my journals and I never thought it would be possible to directly communicate out my thoughts and observations. 

Telecommunications can be a great tool for learning in the future.

For the sake of conservation, I better close things down.