Monday, August 29, 2011

One Month Away

On September 29, 2011, three atmospheric science graduate students from Colorado State University leave for the field campaign of a lifetime. We are Adam Rydbeck, James Ruppert, and Gavin Roy. The principal investigator of our research segment calls us the Three R's.

The location of our month-long stay is Diego Garcia, a footprint-shaped atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean. If it had to be considered part of a country (say, if we were entering payment information on PayPal or selecting our location from a drop-down menu), it would be within British Indian Ocean Territory. But it is 1,800 miles east of Africa and 1,200 miles south of the southern tip of India, and not part of any island chain. This odd geographic isolation is the inspiration for our blog's name, for we truly will not have a continent or country to call home during our stay.

Over the course of the next month, the three of us hope to post a few more updates about the details of the field campaign in which we're participating as well as the history and geography of Diego Garcia. We will then write regular updates once on the island. The exact dates of our travel are from September 29 to November 11, 2011, with the last week-and-a-half being personal travel in Malaysia and Indonesia. Stay posted... it's going to be a wild ride!

-Gavin