Greetings from Darjeeling, India!  For my research, I am measuring long-lived greenhouse gases in India.  Over the past year, I built an instrument to measure these gases continuously in a remote station environment.  The day has finally come to take my precious work out of the lab and install it at the Bose Institute in Darjeeling, India.  My good friend and fellow graduate student, Laura Meredith, has accompanied me all the way around the world to help me with the very daunting task of setting up a field station!

Laura and I have now been in India for a week now, getting adjusted and preparing the site for the arrival of the instrument (due anytime now!).  She often catches me staring out the window pensively, not starting at the gorgeous landscape before me, but wondering exactly which road my instrument is on, whether or not it's wearing a seatbelt and hoping (praying?) that it survives the millions of people, bumpy roads, hairpin turns and 7200 feet of elevation lying between its new home and Kolkata Airport.

Victoria Memorial, Kolkata India

Power Plant on the bank of the Ganges River, Kolkata India

In preparing for its arrival, we have had many things to do.  Getting gas cylinders up to the room, ensuring that the electrical connections are adequate and connected to the generator (to deal with the constant power outages), drilling holes for the inlet to the instrument, and things as simple as making sure we have a sturdy table to put it on!  Though I always knew I would have to consider these issues, I had definitely taken these basics for granted since I was so used to working in a lab at MIT where everything was just there.  My collaborators at Bose Institute have done a tremendous amount of work in helping me get everything I need and in getting through all of the unforeseen obstacles.

Moving in a table. (Bose Institute, Darjeeling)

Moving in gas cylinders.  Laura and I were...shocked.  We were not expecting this. (Bose Institute, Darjeeling)

Today is the first sunny day in Darjeeling!  Laura snapped this photo of the inlet tower with a view of Mt. Kanchenjunga in the background (third highest mountain in the world).

Met tower with instruments for wind speed and direction will also house the inlet for my instrument. Mt. Kanchenjunga in the background completes the pretty picture.

Mt. Kanchenjunga (8586 m)

Can you see the inlet/met tower hidden in the clouds?

Darjeeling, a hill station once developed for British citizens to escape the summer heat of  the then capital, Kolkata.

The instrument will be arriving tonight so the fun part begins!