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This morning was snowy, windy, and generally icky outside. However, even when the weather is less than stellar, it is still beautiful here on the North Slope in Alaska. Inside camp itself isn’t very pretty, but surrounding camp are lovely views of lakes, mountains, and endless tundra. Here are a few

Seth sent me some news yesterday. They will be dismantling the core camp on Mount Hunter in the next day or so and are now waiting for good helicopter weather to move the cores to base camp. I have asked Seth to keep sending any pictures he can, but we need to understand that this a crucial time for

The thrust of the research for this field season for Dr. Kristin O’Brien and Dr. Lisa Crockett is to investigate whether the lack of hemoglobin offers an advantage for the icefish. To recap, perhaps 5 million years or so ago, there was a mutation that affected the icefish ancestor rendering them

Kim and I will be participating in what we call a PolarTREC PolarConnect event this Thursday, June 13. We will be presenting LIVE from Kevo, and anyone can sign up to join us. Kim and I will present for 20-30 minutes, then there are 20-30 minutes available for questions. I have participated in a

One of the projects going on down here is to build a boat ramp to launch the zodiac boats. Zodiacs are small, inflatable, but surprisingly durable boats powered by outboard motors. The zodiacs on station can hold up to six or 10 people. The three dashing fellows you see are the divers who will be

Yesterday I attempted to explain why some soil microbes in wetland areas produce methane gas. In anaerobic conditions, carbon dioxide may be the only electron acceptor available. When this is the case, the soil microbes that can use CO2 in the oxidation/reduction process will produce methane as a

Another term commonly used for Arctic ground squirrels is “Sik Sik”. Their name comes in part from the chattering sounds that they often make. In fact, they are quite vocal and have lots of personality. To get the feel for the Sik-Sik, you really need to hear it, so I made a video of some of the

Mount Hunter Summit is a pretty mellow 40 minute ski from the drill site. We pretty much needed to do it. Enjoy the picture.

I have mentioned in previous journals that it is soil microbes that produce the methane gas that we are measuring. So why and how are they doing that? Obviously the 'how' and the 'why' are connected, but that is a big dose of chemistry all at once. So today I will try to explain the why… ##The Soil

We have finally made it to Palmer Station. It took a bit longer than expected, a couple of detours and a few days later. Without the most beautiful detours I have ever taken. Flexibility. Good thing to have. Seriously. We went through orientation, got the tour and, as expected, there is a lot of