Written by EPS Graduate Student Lindsay Podjasek
This summer, I had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP) Graduate Field Course, an interdisciplinary expedition that brings graduate students and researchers together to live and conduct science on the Juneau Icefield in southeast Alaska. Established in 1946, JIRP is the longest-running glacial research program in the Western Hemisphere, making the icefield not only a mesmerizing landscape but also a valuable record of how glaciers have responded to decades of climate change.
After several days of safety training in Juneau, including glacier travel, crevasse rescue techniques, and helicopter safety, we finally received a break in the weather. Low clouds had delayed flights onto the icefield for days, but on June 8, we finally climbed into helicopters and flew to Camp 10. As we flew over endless snowfields and rugged mountain peaks, it became very clear why generations of scientists have returned to this place. It is one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever experienced.
Life on the icefield was both challenging and rewarding. We lived in historic bunkhouses without electricity or insulation, learned to travel safely across
glaciers, and adapted to rapidly changing weather conditions. It required flexibility, teamwork, and constant attention to safety. Some days, we wore T-shirts and shorts paired with calf-high rubber boots while enjoying warm sunshine and stunning views of the icefield. On other days, we faced heavy rain, strong winds, and conditions that forced us to abandon the day's science plans. By far, my favorite memory was on the night of the summer solstice, when three of us carried our sleeping bags onto a nearby rocky outcrop to spend the night outside. The sky was perfectly clear as we watched the moon rise over the icefield. Even after midnight, the sky never became completely dark, and when I woke up a few hours later, the sun was already rising again.
One of the things that stood out most about JIRP was its interdisciplinary community. Students and researchers came from diverse backgrounds, including glaciology, geophysics, mechanical engineering, climate science, and the social sciences. This diversity created an environment where every project benefited from diverse perspectives and expertise.
During my time on the icefield, I helped assemble a terrestrial radar interferometer and a radar dome to track glacier movement, conducted ground-penetrating radar surveys to investigate glacier structure, and assisted in building weather stations and electrode arrays to monitor meltwater flow through snow and ice. Working directly with field researchers provided invaluable experience in scientific problem-solving under real expedition conditions.
Although my Ph.D. research at Rutgers focuses on lunar mineralogy, JIRP demonstrated how closely terrestrial and planetary field science are connected. Many of the observational skills I developed, such as interpreting landscapes, integrating field observations with remote sensing data, and working effectively in remote environments, are directly applicable to planetary exploration. JIRP turned out to be more than just a field course; it gave me the opportunity to contribute to long-running glacier research while developing the technical, collaborative, and field skills that will shape my future career in planetary science.