Image courtesy of Wiesje Bryan

From: Wiesje Mooiweer Bryan
Arica, Chile, October 14, 2008

Arrived in Arica

After about 34 hrs of traveling we have arrived in Arica! We are staying at a hotel during the five or so weeks we are working here, and it is pretty nice (see picture). We are right on the beach!

The area around here is extremely dry. It barely ever rains, so there is no vegetation of any kind at all. Nothing but sand for miles and miles!

Yesterday, the C-130, the aircraft that I will be working on, arrived in Arica as well, and today people are working on it to get it ready for the first flight, presumably tomorrow! Let the science begin!

VOCALS Campaign

Postcards from the Field: Climate Science from the Southeast Pacific

You might also be interested in:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

Atacama Desert

Chile's Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on Earth. Much of the desert receives less than 1 millimeter (0.04 inch) of rainfall per year on average, making it 50 times more arid than California's...more

What is VOCALS?

What if you wanted to learn more about the climate system of a very large area such as the Southeast Pacific Ocean? What would be involved in studying how the oceans, land, and atmosphere interact? You...more

Rhea George

Many students in atmospheric science were motivated to enter the field by some fascinating extreme weather event experienced as a child. This was not the case with me. When I was an undergraduate I was...more

Dr. Boris Dewitte

I'm a physical oceanographer interested in climate variability and especially the El Niño phenomenon. Other than the annual cyle of the seasons, El Niño is the largest pulsation of the climate. I'm interested...more

Dr. Paquita Zuidema

Hola! I am originally from the Netherlands and thereafter spent 3 years as a child in the Peruvian Andes, but I have lived most of my life in the United States. I received my bachelor's degree in physics...more

Lelia Hawkins

I am starting my fourth year of graduate school at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, studying atmospheric chemistry and climate science. I love earth science and have always wanted to do something...more

Dr. Jeff Snider

I am a university professor involved in studies of the concentration and type of particles contained within clouds. It is important to know these things in order to say how often clouds produce precipitation...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA