Local business drives Arctic researchPublished on March 4th, 2010 By ARCTIC SOUNDER STAFF
Nok Acker stands ready to move new snowmachines as needed near the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium warehouse Feb. 23. (Courtesy Photo, Budd Goodyear) 
Michael Donovan, a BASC employee, clips a wheel assembly to the ski of one of the new snowmachines delivered to BASC this month. The wheel assembly reduces wear on the skis when the machine is off the snow. (Courtesy Photo, Budd Goodyear) Robin Mongoyak's business plan for taking tourists on off-road adventures in Barrow has grown into something much more ambitious. He has started a new company, Kiita ATV Tours. With help from Alaska Growth Capital (AGC), Robin also is providing snowmachines to the world's researchers who flock to Barrow to study climate change, arctic flora and fauna, and dozens of other subjects. The chief logistics supplier for science in Barrow, the nonprofit Barrow Arctic Science Consortium, needed a new fleet of snowmachines for the dozens of sea ice and tundra research projects it facilitates. But BASC has no capital reserve. AGC, working with Mongoyak, is providing BASC with 10 new snowmachines on a long-term lease backed by a federally guaranteed USDA rural development loan. In February a research team will use the machines to compare this year's sea ice in relation to previous years. Another group will use the machines to tow a science buoy over the ice into Elson Lagoon. One group will study frost flowers, the beautiful crystals that grow at the open water edge of the shore-fast sea ice platform off the Barrow coast. Researchers from Purdue will use the snowmachines to transport and test a new atmospheric iodine detector. By early spring, scientists will be out on the tundra tracking breakup conditions. Others will be on Elson Lagoon looking at contaminants on snow. A large group of NASA researchers will spread out on an "icy worlds" project starting in April. "We are so happy to work with a locally owned small business while we help scientists. The fact that Robin is purchasing the machines locally is an added benefit. And believe me, the scientists will be very happy to see that we've upgraded the snowmachine fleet here in Barrow," said BASC executive director Glenn Sheehan. For more information about the consortium, visit www.arcticscience.org. Arctic Sounder Staff can be reached at editor@alaskanewspapers.com |
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