Today's Journal
Today was my first day off since I have been at Toolik and I was very thankful for the chance to relax a bit. Of course I didn’t just sit around camp. Caitlin and I headed about 30 minutes south on the Dalton Highway to hike up to the Galbraith Aufeis. On the way out, we had amazing views of the Brooks Range.
Melissa enjoying the view of the Brooks Range
Aufeis
In German Aufeis means, “ice on top”, which aptly describes the layered ice formation. An aufeis forms when warmer spring water flows up from the ground and freezes in layers. As the spring comes, these layers crack and thaw as you can see in the photos below. The blue hue to the ice was pretty incredible.
View from the top of the aufeis.
As the aufeis melts it cracks and interesting formations are created in the ice
Ice candling
Candle ice is a form of rotten ice that develops in columns perpendicular to the ice sheets from the freeze-thaw cycle as the ice melts. The “candles” make a clinking sound as they break apart.
Candle ice breaking off the edge of the aufeis
Close up view of the ice candles
Question to Ponder-
We saw lots of interesting scat on our hike (only a science teacher would say this!) Who’s scat is this in the photos below? Check back soon for the answer.
Who's scat is in photo 1?
Who's scat is in photo 2?