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9 July 2016 What Do You Do When You Aren't Sciencing?

Journal Entry

Life Between Science Stations I have been asked what we do between science stations. Although we mustn't lose focus of the primary goal of this expedition - collecting and processing data - there is a lot to do when we are not on station. Wednesdays and Saturdays are "Field Days" - everyone

8 July 2016 Down River

Journal Entry

Today after breakfast we packed our backpacks for a day in the field down the river. The objective was to survey another area to mount sap flow sensors on shrubs for comparison with our low and high density forest sites near the science station. The area we had in mind is on a massive floodplain

8 July 2016 Spotting New Marine Mammals

Journal Entry

Walruses, Seals, and Ice We are in the Chukchi Sea. We began to see small chunks of ice early this morning, and by lunch we could hear the scraping and feel vibrations as Healy moved through ice. This isn't something for which you are easily prepared; it just doesn't seem right to be taking the

8 July 2016 Arctic Flora!

Journal Entry

Arctic Tundra Flora The Arctic tundra has a unique set of wildflowers and plants during the summer months. #Arctic Tundra Adaptations The Arctic Tundra is a very unique place for both animals and plants. Thin active layer characterizes the environment, which is the layer above the permafrost or

6 July 2016 Getting Ready for Stations

Journal Entry

Checking Equipment While we have been transiting, each science team has been checking and setting up its equipment in preparation for the first station. The bird and marine mammal teams have also been keeping watch. While it may seem like a lot of down time during the transit, it has actually been

6 July 2016 Tree Core Samples

Journal Entry

Sap wood measurements Now that we have our sap flow instrumentation set up on the trees and shrubs we just monitor the data weekly to make sure that everything is running the way it should be. In an earlier post I talked about what it means to take sap flow measurements. To review, it is the

5 July 2016 Photochemistry!

Journal Entry

Photochemistry! #Overview of the Science Photochemistry is a field of science that looks at chemical reactions that involve sunlight. Sunlight is a spectrum of light that includes infrared, visible and UV rays. The UV rays are the most potent (yes the ones that sunburn you) when it comes to chemical

Microbial Biogeography

Journal Entry

Microbial Biogeography Blog! #What are microbes? A microbe is a category of organism that is so small to be seen by the naked eye. There are five main types of microbes, which include bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae and protozoa. ##What are bacteria? Bacteria are microscopic single-celled organisms

2 July 2016 Rock Flour and Emerald Lakes

Journal Entry

Grinding Away of the Canadian Rockies The massive weight of ice that comprises a glacier causes the ice to move down the side of the mountain grinding away the rock beneath. Fine particles of rock, called rock flour, created by this grinding, is carried away down the many rivulets of water

4 July 2016 24 hours of Sunlight

Journal Entry

24 hours of Light at 68°N It's another sunny day here in Cherskiy. In fact, it's sunny during every hour of the day here right now. Some people have been asking about what it's like to experience 24 hours of daylight and why it happens, so I thought I would write a quick journal explaining why