Submitted by Dan Frost on Thu, 03/28/2013 - 09:27
Forums
Carbon Balance in Warming and Drying Tundra 2013

Hi Tom,

The science involved in your expedition is fascinating! I am especially intrigued by the instrumentation...

Along those lines, I know that one of the major questions of the expedition is carbon cycling and looking at the balance of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and respiration. Does the instrumentation or scope of the project take into account other fluxes of carbon such as methane? Just wondering how that is factored into the budget?...

Thanks so much and I look forward to following your adventures!

Best, Dan

PolarTREC Svalbard 2012

Mon, 04/01/2013 - 11:30

Tom Lane

Thanks for the question Dan. Elizabeth Webb (researcher) "We don't find it particularly interesting at this time". The LI-COR used on this project only measures CO2. If methane is to be analyzed it is collected in a vial then taken into the lab and analyzed via gas chromatography. This is a time consuming process. To measure Methane efficiently would require different instrument (expensive). Methane isn't measured at this field site because there isn't much of it here. Whereas much more can be found on the Northslope (Barrow area...).

Mon, 04/01/2013 - 13:36

Dan Frost

Hi Tom,Thanks so much for following up on the question. I guess methane is most interesting at times of higher concentration...and in the presence of a spark! I look forward to following your adventure and hope that they're not working you too hard (even though shoveling is one of our northeastern specialties).
Take care and have a blast!
Best,
Dan