A reflection on the field experience

By: Denys Grombacher

Andy and Denys looking at the NMR data.

I just got back to San Francisco yesterday after an amazing trip to the APY lands. It was a great experience, both in terms of cultural experience and getting to explore a new part of the world.  It was also an amazing opportunity for myself, as a young scientist, to participate in large field study in remote and challenging conditions. My Ph.D has consisted primarily of synthetic studies conducted on a computer so far. While I have thoroughly enjoyed my Ph.D, the reason I got into geophysics in the first place was to get outside, and work in really cool places. And the APY lands definitely qualifies as a really cool place.

Hard at work in the outback.

It was very rewarding to apply the tools I’ve developed during my studies to a problem critical to remote communities, but one of the biggest learning experiences that I hadn’t expected was getting to see first hand everything that goes into planning a field study in remote conditions. I was responsible for some planning prior to our arrival in Australia, mostly hiring vehicles and coordinating a 4 wheel drive training course (which was SUPER fun) but almost all of the organization of the field campaign was done by our CSIRO colleagues (thanks Kevin, Aaron, and Tim). Since we were working in such a remote place we were responsible for bringing in nearly all our own supplies: food for the full two weeks, lots of water, all the geophysical equipment and supplementary supplies necessary for the field work. I really gained an appreciation for how much planning goes into conducting such a large study. Everything went smoothly in the field thanks largely to the comprehensive preparation.  Another important aspect of remote field work I learned is the need for redundant safety systems. Whenever we went into the field every crew had 3 to 4 safety systems that they could use to alert someone in the event of an accident. We had CB radios, satellite phones, spots (an automated GPS that uploads your current position every 15 minutes, and is capable of transmitting a distress signal to search and rescue), and another GPS capable of transmitting a distress signal. After this experience I feel confident that I would be able to coordinate and execute a remote field study. I left Australia with a renewed enthusiasm for field work, and an increased excitement to get back out into the field.

Lots of open spaces to put out NMR and TEM loops!