Around the World

Adam departed his Colorado apartment eight days ago just prior to 6 o'clock in the morning. Twenty-eight hours, three flights, and two continents later, he found himself at a snazzy hotel in Singapore. Adam's stay in southeast Asia was brief, as it was merely the point where he had to rendezvous with a U.S. military aircraft in order to reach his destination of Diego Garcia. He did make the most of his short visit to Singapore, though, by taking a tour of the city. And, thank goodness he knew not to chew gum there because it is against the law and punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. I am assuming that Singapore must be one tidy city!

Adam and his atmospheric science colleagues met up with their transportation to DG - a U.S. Air Force C-17 - on Tuesday afternoon at a Singaporean air base. Apparently, the huge military plane provided an interesting ride. While snapping photos of the outside of the aircraft was prohibited, pictures could be taken inside. Diego Garcia houses a U.S. Navy base that has graciously allowed (or been monetarily compensated to allow?) the DYNAMO climate project to operate from there. Upon arrival on the island, Adam and the others settled into their hotel rooms, then went through some training with the grad students that had already been there for the past month. While chatting with Adam on Skype this afternoon - and our Skype connection was less than perfect; actually it was not very good at all - Jim, Jacob, and I learned more about the research work that is going on in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Adam's weather balloon launches sound quite intriguing and I will post more about them in my next DG update.