Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/26/2009 - 07:58
Forums
Ocean, Atmosphere, Sea Ice, and Snowpack Interactions

Mrs. Wilkening,

Hi, This is Andrew Paulson.

I just wanted to know if you ever have snow ball fights when you get bored? I hope you are having a really good time in ALASKA. I hope to go there one day.

The class also wants to know if the results you are getting from your snow samples are what you expected. They were also curious to know what the dogs eat.

Bye from Tucson,

Andrew Paulson.

Sat, 03/28/2009 - 14:48

Betsy Wilkening

We cannot make a snowball here because the snow is too dry.  It does not pack together.  I will try to make a video of that for you.  Recently Holgar had some fun on the tundra building an igloo and Snowhenge.  See my pictures and I will put a journal entry out there.
We have been having some difficutly lately getting some clean water to reference our snow with. We have also been packing up smaller samples of the snow to be analyzed at home with a machine that is more accurate in Harry's lab.  You can also ask him about his data in the live IPY event, he can elaborate.
I asked Geoff Carroll about his dogs and he sent me this wonderful response.

The main things my dogs eat are fish and whale blubber. Each fall, shortly after the lakes freeze, I run the dogs to Ikroagvik Lake that is south of Barrow. We chop holes in the ice and put nets under the ice. Then every evening for 8 days I mush the dogs to the lake, we pull the nets up onto the ice, and pick the fish out of the nets. We usually catch 200-300 fish per day. Then we put the fish in bags and haul them back home, where they remain frozen until I feed them to the dogs. The fish are called 'least ciscos', which are a type of white fish that weighs about 3/4 of a pound. The dogs love to eat them. I attached a picture of my son Gunnar helping pull the fish net. I also feed them whale blubber. There is a subsistence hunt for whales here. When people catch whales, almost everything is eaten, but not all of the blubber (fat). It used to be used for fuel, but now we have natural gas. So, people give me their leftover blubber for the dogs to eat.

Mrs. Wilkening