Jenrick CPI attend OSB Launch Evening – Tuesday 25th November
We had the very great pleasure of attending a gathering of sponsors and supporters of the Catlin Arctic Survey on Tuesday.
The event was to mark the official launch of the project and to unveil the new OSB (Operations Support Base), based in Leadenhall Street. The offices have been donated by Catlin Insurance as part of their ongoing support and sponsorship of the Survey.The evening was a great success and gave everyone an opportunity to hear a project update from Pen Hadow and Simon Harris-Ward (Head of Operations), together with a chance to meet the rest of the ice team prior to their departure to Canada for sampling and testing equipment.
Peter Jezeph (Managing Director of Jenrick CPI) commented:
There is a real buzz here tonight with all the team and sponsors feeling a great sense of camaraderie. It’s an unique sense of excitement and anticipation, especially with the team heading for the ice tomorrow. This is the build up to an historic and world changing event and we are proud to be playing our part in it.
Pen Hadow, and photographer Martin Hartley, who Pen identified earlier as an essential part of the team, together with journalist Tarquin Cooper from the Daily Telegraph, flew out to Resolute Bay in the Canadian High Arctic on Wednesday 26th. They then travelled north for 6 hours on snowmobiles to Little Cornwallis Island. They will spend 5 days testing SPRITE (Ice penetrating radar designed by one of the CAS team), taking ice thickness readings. This mini-expedition will also be an opportunity to practice manual ice drilling techniques.
The second week in December will see the full team, including Ann Daniels, who Pen paid tribute to as the one of the most experienced polar explorers, descend on Dartmoor for two days extensive training. Communications and scientific protocol will be tested extensively. The idea is to provide the closest possible simulation to a 36 hour period on the ice.
In addition to the Dartmoor training, the team are also booked for a stint in a -50C walk-in cold chamber at the Motor Industry Research Agency. The focus will be predominantly on testing the technology and equipment, specifically the biotelemetry gear, video cameras, immersion suits(especially zips after being submerged in water), body worn radios and GPS, together with the teams ability to withstand such cold conditions.
On the evening, we were also advised that the team has met with Professor Wieslaw Maslowski (Department of Oceanography at the Naval Postgraduate School, California) and Professor Peter Wadhams (Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge) to discuss the scientific validity and likely ice conditions along the route. It was agreed that the proposed route (80 N and 140 W) was indeed very exciting in terms of data collection.
Philip Fanthom (Sales Director, Jenrick CPI) spoke about his excitement:
“We are an integral part of a project that could change tomorrow’s world for our children. This is a story that my kids and grand-kids will get fed up of me telling in years to come”
In another exciting development, CAS (Catlin Arctic Survey) has teamed up with Google Earth and it has been confirmed that a CAS ‘layer’ will be added to Google Earth core software, as well as their, soon to be launched, ‘Expeditions’ layer. More details on this development will be coming soon.
The planned date for the team to head out to the ice is 22nd February 2009 through to late May or even early June depending on ice melt. For updates and further information, please visit; www.jenrickcpi.co.uk/pen-hadow-arctic-survey
