As we near the end of July, preparations to get started with GEOEO expedition are fully underway. The ASV Echoboat and all the acoustic mapping equipment has long since been shipped to Sweden and is now onboard Icebreaker Oden headed to Pituffik Space Base (previously Thule Air Base), in Northern Greenland. At Pituffik the science team will meet the ship to begin GEOEO in early August.
The US Mapping Contingent has a lot of travel in between now and boarding Oden in Greenland! First we fly from the US to Stockholm, Sweden to meet the rest of the science team. From there whole team will take a Swedish Air Force cargo plane to Pituffik and immediately board Icebreaker Oden. Then we head north!
While we get our offshore gear packed and check in for our flights, here is a brief introduction to the US Mapping Contingent: Larry, Brian, and Liz. AKA those of us who will be collecting all the acoustic data and populating this blog during the GEOEO expedition!
Dr. Larry Mayer
Our fearless leader, Larry, is the co-PI of the Geophysical Mapping Package on GEOEO. He has participated in more than 95 cruises (over 75 months at sea!) over the last 45 years and has been chief scientist of numerous expeditions. His current research focuses on developing autonomous vehicles for seafloor mapping, as well as applications of bathymetric data to Law of the Sea issues, particularly in the Arctic Ocean.
Larry is the director of the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping (CCOM) and a Professor at the University of New Hampshire (UNH).
At sea Larry always packs Unique Dark Roasted Pretzels!
Dr. Brian Calder
Brian trained first in electronic engineering, specializing in Bayesian signal processing for his doctoral work, but was then seduced into ocean mapping for reasons that are now obscure. At CCOM his research focuses on high-performance, highly-robust processing of high-density bathymetric data, estimation and use of uncertainty in ocean mapping, and, at the other extreme, collection of and inference from bathymetric data from volunteer observers. He is a CCOM plank-owner, having joined at inception in January 2000, and is currently a Research Professor at UNH and Associate Director of CCOM.
At sea Brian always packs White Heron Assam Gold and Darjeeling 2nd Flush Tea!
Dr. Liz Weidner
Liz is an acoustician who uses echosounders to study the polar seas. She did her doctoral work at CCOM and is now a postdoctoral fellow at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In 2025 she'll start work as an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut. Her research is focused on understanding processes occurring at ice-ocean interface of marine-terminating glaciers.
When Liz is not at sea, she enjoys hiking with her husband Sam and dogs, Freya and Anka. She also loves to partake in the excellent Mexican food offerings in southern California.
At sea Liz always packs Teddys Crunchy Peanut Butter!
You can check out all the participants of GEOEO at the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat expedition web page!
