Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Dec 04/98) - Each morning at 4:30 a.m., and later in the day at 4:30 p.m., upper air station contractor Mark Gould is busy filling a huge balloon with hydrogen and then letting it loose into the sky.

Before lift-off, he attaches what he calls a styrofoam radio weather sond, which is a kind of transmitter.

"(The transmitter) collects weather data such as wind, temperature, humidity and barometer readings and relays them down to us on the ground," the 29-year-old says.

"Once the flight's over, we transmit the information down south to Edmonton."

The weather balloon pops when it reaches a certain altitude and is unable to expand any more. Then it drops somewhere out on the land.

Has he ever had any complaints from environmentalists concerned about Environment Canada regularly littering the land?

"No, I've never had any complaints. Environment Canada might have. I've never even met anyone who has found one -- and there are two a day."

He then ventures a guess that the small transmitters are eventually biodegradable.

"There's not really a lot involved in my portion of the job. What they do with the data once I send it, I'm not sure. It's how they predict the weather."

Because the transmitters must be sent up every 12 hours, Gould shares the work with Cheryl Allen so each perform the task for half the week.

"I don't know if I have a favourite part of the job. I like the fact that it's not a regular 9-5 desk job," he says.

"It's irregular or unusual hours, but it's something you get used to."

Gould has been married to Carol for about one year and the two have no children. They do have a dog, Shadow, who was formerly a stray and a cat, Rookie.

Gould has been in Inuvik since October, 1994 when he moved North from Brandon, Manitoba, to start a janitorial business.

Outside of his work at the upper air station, Gould works casual at the Inuvik Centennial library and he still does janitorial work at the dental clinic.

He is part of the volunteer fire fighters as well as the Lions Club and he has been active with the Ducks Unlimited committee.

Despite his years in Inuvik, he will likely be off to Vancouver by June because his wife landed a job with Canadian Airlines and will be stationed there.

"I know I'm going to miss here," the curling club member says.

"I'm not looking forward to a big city."