Polar Date: July 17, 2008
The fog rolled in bringing with it cold air, wind and more rain. It would have been a great day for sleeping in, but that was not part of the plan. Today was Live from IPY which started at 9:00 a.m. Donie, John, Laura and I gathered around the phone and computer in Lab 2 around 8:45 and waited to get started. We had a bit of technical difficulty, but Janet and Kristin from ARCUS in Fairbanks made everything run smoothly. It was so good to hear friends, family, co-workers and other Polar-Trec teachers! It was also fun to tell everyone about all the important work we are doing here at Toolik.
At around 10:00, Laura, Carol, Donna and I began the work for the rest of the day, which entailed going out to the historic study plots in the morning, then to the newest fertilized plots in the afternoon.
We geared up and set out, bringing the 1 meter grids and data sheets made of "write in the rain” paper. We were wearing our Xtra-Tuf boots, rain pants and jackets, hats, and gloves along with various under-layers.
It was cold enough for people to get out the polarfleece and other clothing designed for warmth and dryness.
The historic plots are located at the top of a hill, like everything else around here. I wondered as I climbed through tussock tundra to the boardwalks how anyone could actually gain weight, with all the hill climbing and tussock-walking going on. At the top, we turned left hopped on the boardwalk and hiked along until we saw many stakes and flags and a very large caribou head and antlers.
![Large caribou head and antlers.](/files/members/catherine-campbell/images/july17caribouhead.jpg "In the "historic" tussock tundra, the tundra that was first plotted, surveyed and sampled, we came upon this very large caribou head and antlers. The water bottle was placed near the skull to illustrate the relative size.")
In the "historic" tussock tundra, the tundra that was first plotted, surveyed and sampled, we came upon this very large caribou head and antlers. The water bottle was placed near the skull to illustrate the relative size.
Because we could not find the control plots, we did not take any data. Laura instead walked around the plots making observations about relative shrub growth and noted evidence of herbivory, areas of grasses and other remarkable differences from the overall landscape within the plot. We hiked back down in time to eat hot vegetable soup for lunch.
The afternoon found Laura, Carol, Donna and I again climbing up the hill, heading this time to the newest plots. We were amazed when we got to the top of yet another hill, turned left and found deluxe boardwalk stretching as far as the eye could see (especially in the fog!)
The newest plots up on a hill, just southeast of the field station, have wonderful large, stable boardwalks. They are very well constructed and should last for years, even with the increasing number of researchers tromping around on them.
This time, there was no difficulty finding the fertilized plots and the control plots, so we set to work – with Laura and I working as a team and Carol and Donna working as a team. We did the same type of data in this acidic tussock tundra as we did the other day – percent cover and number of species present in the 1 meter grid. It was cold, cold, cold. It was hard to write with 2 pair of gloves on. It was also hard to write and concentrate while shivering, or jumping up and down in order to stop shivering.
At 5:00 p.m. we were done and headed back around past the Itex plots,yes still more plots!
Coming down from the ridge, we observed two blocks of plots with warming chambers in the plots. This experiment is part of ITEX and is replicated throughout circumpolar research areas, to see the effect of warming on tundra species and diversity.
It was a long but productive day, and we were well rewarded with a splendid dinner of salad, salmon, diced roasted potatoes, vegetable strata, green beans and rolls. Dessert was cherry or berry crisp.
The day didn’t end with dinner;it was more work in the lab, with John and Karl continuing to process soil cores. Laura, Donna and Carol helped and I worked on my computer doing PolarTrec journals and pictures until 9:00 p.m.
As I left the lab and headed back to my tent the fog was still surrounding the camp making it seem very far away from the rest of the world.
The fog that had had been blocking our view of the Brooks Range rolled into camp sometime during the night, bringing much colder temperatures and rain.
Signing off from Toolik Lake, and remember, "There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew”. ~Marshall McLuhan, 1964