Greetings from Christchurch, NZ

Written By Lija Treibergs

Greetings from Christchurch, NZ, gateway to Antarctica! I was scheduled to leave on my “ice flight” this morning on a C-130, but we have been put on a 1 day delay due to weather. This gives me more time to gather “freshies”- the last fresh food I will have for a few months! The last few days have been filled with orientations, Covid testings, and the cold weather gear issue. Every US Antarctic Program participant is loaned a set of extreme cold weather gear for the duration or their time on the continent. I've been enjoying meeting the other people in my cohort- a mix of contractors and scientists, all doing different interesting things: surveying work for new construction projects, maintenance on weather stations all over Antarctica, astronomy research using the high tech telescopes at the South Pole, flying drones to study melting permafrost, Weddell seal research out on the sea ice, to name a few!

Lija Treibergs

Lija joined the AWI in the Spring of 2020 as a research technician and works in the lab and field on the Institute's water quality monitoring programs and environmental research projects. Prior to joining the AWI she worked as a lab manager for an aquatic geochemistry group at the University of Michigan researching carbon cycling in tundra watersheds of northern Alaska and as a technician for a marine nitrogen biogeochemistry lab at the University of Connecticut. She is interested in the biogeochemistry of aquatic and marine systems and particularly enjoys working with long term environmental data sets to understand how human activities can alter biogeochemical cycles and impact water quality. Lija is excited to explore the abundant beauty of the Adirondacks by foot, ski, and kayak and is happy to finally live in a place with real winter.

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