This past week our school completed our annual Experiential Education Week. My Course was titled Polar to Solar. Though the students did not really go "polar", we did all climb to the top of a 12,200…
As an aficionado of cold climates, I made a recent foray into the alpine and sub-alpine zones of the Colorado Rockies near my home in Aspen.
The high alpine near Pearl Pass, Colorado.
My wife,…
Today we visited the "Permafrost tunnel" outside of Fairbanks. This is a large tunnel that burrows into a hillside to study permafrost. It is run by the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab.…
Last night all the polar trekkers went on a field excursion to the Chena Hot Springs. The 50 mile drive passed through the Boreal forest, also known as the spruce/moose biome. It was appropriate that…
Musk oxen are one of the classic animals of the high arctic. Unlike the ground squirrel, they do not hibernate during the frigid winter. Instead, these animals are active all winter, and survive by…
The research project I am involved in will be studying hibernation in Arctic Ground Squirrels. Today we visited the University of Alaska Fairbanks and saw some captive squirrels which scientists use…
There are a number of very large and vocal Ravens in Town. I cant imagine how they survive. You would think their exposed feet would freeze while perched on a branch all night at -35F. One of the few…
Fairbanks Ice Sculpture
PolarTREC Orientation
Fairbanks Alaska in February is not what many would consider an exotic destination, but since my selection as a member of the PolarTREC program, I…
