Arctic lab to use undergrads' electric sled

POTSDAM — Next stop, Greenland.

A converted electric snowmobile designed by Clarkson University undergraduates is heading to the Greenland Environmental Observatory to help scientists there collect environmental data. The zero-emissions snowmobile took second place at the 2010 Society for Automotive Engineering's Clean Snowmobile Challenge.

The prize for the top two teams is a two-month trip to Greenland for the snowmobile and 10 days for one of the students on the team. Scott J. Keefe, a senior electrical engineering student, was selected to go to Greenland to show the scientists how to use the Clarkson machine.

"Historically, the first-place team takes its snowmobile to Greenland. I didn't realize that the first- and second-place teams would be going," said Robert J. Davis, director of the university's Student Projects for Engineering Experience and Design program. "As the technology improves every year, they're finding, 'Hey, this is pretty useful; let's get more than one up here.'"

Clarkson's electric snowmobile team has been participating in the challenge for years, but has never had its creation selected to go to the lab in Greenland, which is on top of nearly 10,500 feet of ice. The lab studies the ice sheet and monitors and investigates the Arctic environment.

The snowmobile and Mr. Keefe will leave the day after graduation from Stratton Air National Guard Base in Schenectady. The observatory, which is in the middle of Greenland in a national forest, can be reached only by military plane, Mr. Keefe said.

Scientists there can use only electric snowmobiles because of the sensitivity of their instruments.

"They can't use a regular snowmobile because the exhaust will actually screw up their equipment," Mr. Davis said. "There's between $20,000 and $25,000 in equipment invested in a zero-emissions snowmobile. For them to make one themselves, it's easier to ship these up."

The team of about 10 students took a regular gas-powered Polaris snowmobile and converted it to an electric engine. The competition requires the students to keep performance levels high; the vehicles have to be able to pull a heavy load over long distances and function at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

"A lot of competitions, you'll make something, you'll go to the competition, you'll win and that's it. It's really great to see the work being used," Mr. Keefe said.

Scientists in Greenland will use the snowmobile over the summer as they take atmospheric readings, Mr. Keefe said.

The competition was held at Michigan Technological University. The University of Wisconsin took first place, but the Clarkson team wasn't far behind, according to Mr. Davis.

"If we had gotten the design together a few weeks early to test it, I think we would have gotten the bugs worked out and gotten first," he said. "It was that close."