12 April 2021 Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

The BIG News

After a year of waiting and wondering (and waiting and waiting), I finally got the news that my trip is going to happen this year… I’m headed to Alaska!

A view of the Imnaviat Creek research site. The tram tower is to the left and the OTCs (Open Top Chambers) are center. Imnaviat Creek, Alaska. Photo by Melissa Lau (PolarTREC 2018), Courtesy of ARCUS

I am beyond grateful to be able to work with my team of science researchers, Dr. Steve Oberbauer and Dr. Jeremy May, to learn more about how climate change is impacting the vegetation in Arctic Tundra at Toolik Field Station. Since this project is a long term project (and I am just one piece of the larger puzzle), I am particularly interested to see if the pandemic has any effects on the data that gets collected. Even though I won’t get to experience Utqiagvik or Atkasuk this year due to the ongoing pandemic, I feel especially lucky to be able to be a part of the team in this unique year.

Researcher Jeremy May at Toolik Field Station, Alaska. Photo by Alejandra Martinez (PolarTREC 2019), Courtesy of ARCUS

I have a lot of preparation to do in the meantime… reading previous AON-ITEX (Arctic Observation Network-International Tundra Experiment) published works to remind myself about the work, figuring out my packing list, and trying to understand all the new regulations of traveling to Toolik during COVID times. I’m super excited! Stay tuned as I prepare for the Arctic!
   

A Quick History Lesson on Today's Title

Do you know where the phrase "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" came from? Whenever I hear the phrase, I picture people selling newspapers with BIG NEWS on the front, but… why did they call it “Extra”? I did some quick research and apparently, the reason is because it was the extra news of the day. Back before social media and technology allowed us to have access to news within seconds, Newspapers typically were only published once a day… in the morning. If there was BIG news, a second newspaper would be published in the middle of the day. An EXTRA newspaper.

I must have learned about the phrase before today, but it just resurfaced for me. Today’s news is big news, and while it isn’t an “extra”, I’m going to keep the title because it helped me learn something!