CraigAumack

Q. Where do polar bears keep their money? A. In snowbanks.

-- Rebecca

Typical day: (1) Get up and make lunch for field. (2) Move over to staging are where we pack all the gear we will need for sampling that day, strap it down to sleds (think over-sized dog sleds), and attach the sleds to snow machines. (3) Get dressed in several layers of warm clothing and head out to field sites. We always have a bear guard with us as a guide and for protection. (4) We tend to prioritize certain sampling (in case we get recalled) and go down the check list retrieving samples and setting up other experiments. Somewhere in there, we eat lunch. (5) Head back to staging area where all the gear needs to be rinsed off, samples are loaded into a truck and taken back to the lab. (6) Samples are then cataloged, stored, and/or diluted in filtered seawater. We then process the samples we can while reviewing any underwater video footage we may have captured that day. Usually by now, it is between 8-9:30 at night.
(7) We tend to have a group dinner. (8) Back to lab to finish any samples and get a sampling plan set for the next day. (9) Bed....

on days we don't go in the field we are working in the lab to catch up on sampling, maintenance to field gear, and other activities (like reddit AMAs ;)

(1) With our ice coring, we try to core through the bottom of the ice as gingerly as possible to avoid shaving off the very fragile bottom section. If you mean oil drilling, I am afraid I do not know.

(2) Some polar science is conducted just to look at organisms that live in extreme environments, environments that mirror similar conditions to those that could exist on other planets. That being said, I am not going to Mars.

We drill and section certain parts of the ice cores and allow them to melt in filtered seawater. This helps the organisms deal with the salinity shock that comes from melting a sea-ice core by itself. Once the core is melted, we sample the water for microorganisms. We are always concerned about contaminating our samples.

Wow, that is an interesting question! I think it is really up to the individual scientist. I personally am concerned about collecting data and discovering any trends that can be interpreted from that data.