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After another morning of training, we headed to learn about what lies beneath in the Permafrost Tunnel. The tunnel was created during the 1960s to study geology in permafrost. I imagined permafrost as "frozen ground" and wasn't really sure what to expect as I entered the tunnel. Well, it was cold

Ahhh, the final day of the official PolarTREC Orientation. I am thoroughly exhausted, overwhelmed, and absolutely ready to continue sharing my adventure with all of you. I know that I still have a lot of learning to accomplish before I head to Antarctica. I hope to continue journaling and practicing

Most buildings in Fairbanks are big, boxy, and unimpressive. It doesn’t help matters aesthetically that they are really far apart, and that the city is so flat. There are a few surprising exceptions, though. Here and there on the side streets you can still find a log cabin. The Museum of the North

As part of our Polar TREC orientation, we have taken a number of field trips around Fairbanks. We've visited the University of Alaska large animal research station, U of A Museum of the North, BP world championship ice carving competition, the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory

Acting on a tip from a friend, I invited myself into basement of this gift shop even though it was nine o’clock at night. Talk about fossils! There are literally tons of extinct steppe bison bones, woolly mammoth bones, mammoth tusks, moose antlers, whale baleen, and just about every kind of

This afternoon I paid a call on Pat Holloway, Professor of Horticulture at the University of Alaska and Director (and founder) of the Georgeson Botanical Garden. I wanted to ask her advice on a science project we are doing at my school which involves growing plants in a very cold environment. *

This morning, Jim Madsen, physics professor and IceCube researcher from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, arrived to the PolarTREC training. I and the other KSTF Fellows spoke with Jim at length about the project, including expectations and our roles as PolarTREC teachers. Jim enlightened us

Fairbanks holds many wonders for the casual visitor, not least of which is the annual World Ice Art Championships. Artists sculpt elaborate and clever designs in blocks of solid ice cut from a nearby rock quarry lake. The amount of time and skill that goes into carving these works of art is

Today was a beautiful day to be out of the classroom. It was snowing big, fluffy snowflakes, just like we get in Michigan. It looked so beautiful with everything covered by a thick blanket of powdery snow. Today we had two destinations: The United States Army Cold Region Research and Engineering

Listen to the audio journal below to learn more about Tom Harten's upcoming PolarTREC research experience in the Pribilof Islands, located in the Bering Sea.