Getting Everything Running

Hi All!

In the first week of research, we have gotten up and running with preparation and our trip to Indiana, Pennsylvania. Our research group started with the necessary preparations with gathering our supplies and background literature. By Monday evening, we arrived after our 10-hour road trip filled with songs and unexpected prizes from claw machines along the way.

(Source for image: http://oilindependents.org/utica-the-shale-revolution-coming-to-ohio/)

The area we arrived at is within an overlap of the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations. Overtime many unconventional and conventional wells were popping up all over Pennsylvania to harvest oil and natural gas. We plan to gather data with Dr. Deanna Donohoue’s Atmospheric Research Trailer for Environmental Monitoring and Interactive Science (ARTEMIS) and other instruments on the air quality around aged wells as well as newer more active ones. We spent the past few days discussing the sampling methods we could take in the field and set up calibrations to check our instruments. It is exciting being able to work with the Ozone and Nitrous Oxides Monitors and Kestrel again. We have a new addition with a new approximately 9-foot tall tripod for the Kestrel and with a lot of leveling we are excited to see if our operating procedure goes smoothly in the field.

On our first full day in Indiana, Elizabeth and I were able to meet some of the people doing research in Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Geosciences field. They were kind enough to show us some of their spectacular equipment such as their Augmented Reality Sandbox and talk to us about their recent research and work.

For the next coming days, we will be getting started with our field campaign for this summer. Stay tuned!