A good time to abide by traffic signs…

For all drivers that might miss the Chukchi Sea dead ahead, this Barrow stop sign is here to help.

My Furry Little Friends

PANDAs in Alaska?

Just this afternoon I went out on my third field trip with Barrow students!  The first two trips last week I took 3^rd graders and 6^th/7^th graders out to the Annika Marie, a boat, to meet with a team of researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution up here studying zooplankton.

Trip aboard the Annika Marie (note the excited look on the face of the little boy dead center).

Then today I took three high school seniors and their teacher out to the Barrow Environmental Observatory (see last post) to dig a soil pit!
WHAT!  Another soil pit!!

A shot of the tundra before we dug in!

I certainly didn’t expect to be digging soil pits again so soon, but it turns out my summer as an assistant PANDA in the Professional And Non-violent Digging Alliance taught me enough about digging soil pits that I could lead a small field trip talking about carbon and the active layer depth (the layer from the surface down to frozen ground)! Fortunately for me, this time I made the high-schoolers do the digging!

So far my project with BASC (the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium) developing after school science field trips for kids has received a lot of support from teachers, the school district, researchers and the students themselves.  I have only done three trips so far, but I already have 6 more planned during the next two weeks! It’s amazing how much research is being done up here in Barrow and its really exciting to learn about the broad range of subjects being investigated.

What’s left of a bluff overlooking the Chukchi Sea.

What is even more exciting is connecting students with the scientists and research practically taking place in their backyard.  When you drive around the outskirts of Barrow you can’t help but notice all the towers, satellite dishes and funky looking research buildings.  But even as such prominent landmarks, its surprising how so few students actually know what those towers, dishes and buildings are and more importantly, what is so interesting to scientists about their home!

The Chukchi Sea

I’m hoping that through these small, hands on field trips, students in Barrow will begin to understand how science can be used as a tool to investigate local and global issues.  And if I’m lucky, they’ll learn a bit more about their unique home in the process!

A Street in Barrow

Ukpiaģvik: “Place to hunt snowy owls”

Ukpiaģvik is the Iñupiaq name for Barrow, and on my second day here, I learned why.  I took a trip out to the Barrow Environmental Observatory with a researcher, Martjin, to see the site he was working on and ended up seeing 4 snowy owls as well!

The Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) is a plot of land set aside by the city of Barrow specifically for scientific research.  Various long-term projects are taking place out at the BEO in the tundra to look for signs of changes in the landscape or simulating changes in the ecosystem with human intervention. The study Martjin was working on is a year round project taking various daily measurements (such as air and soil temperature, moisture, radiation and net carbon flux) to evaluate whether tundra is acting as a carbon source or sink.  It is predicted that with increased temperatures and melting of the permafrost around Barrow that the tundra will transition from a carbon sink to a source of carbon release.

Apparently snowy owls appreciate the BEO just as much as researchers!  On our way out to the site on the boardwalk, owls watched us from afar on top of mounds in the tundra and looked down upon us from the tops of telephone towers.  Not a bad sight for my second day in Barrow!  Since then I have yet to see any more snowy owls, but I’ll keep looking while there is still light…

This Omnivore’s Dilemma

As many of you know, since I have been spewing random bits of information from it over the last 6 months, I am reading (and still only about half way through) the Omnivores’ Dilemma by Michael Pollan.
The book touts the health and societal benefits of eating local, organic food over purchasing items of the shelf straight form the industrial processing food chain.  I have been inspired by Pollan’s book to be more conscious of where my food is coming from and to take a more active roll in consuming and preparing locally based, healthy meals.  It usually tastes better and makes me feel better, so I see it as a win/win situation!

Transplant the Omnivores’ Dilemma and my newly conscious foodie self to Barrow, AK, and things get a bit complicated.  Barrow is located at 71°, a ways above the Arctic Circle regardless of how you choose to define it. If you want to get your daily helping of fruits and vegetables, you have to accept the fact that at some point in the food chain from farm to plate there is going to be quite a bit of travel, either in a crate on a plane or as cargo on a ship. And that goes for the protein that I am used to eating as well.  There are no local cattle farms or hen houses up in Barrow.

The alternative diet is what Eskimos up here subsisted on for thousands of years before whaling ships started to arrive in the 1800s, and it is made up of meat, meat and more meat.  Whale meat.  Seal meat.  Caribou meat.  Duck meat.  You get the idea.  Locals in Barrow still hunt all of the above mentioned species and more, but I would venture to say that today no one exists on a 100% traditional diet.

So finding myself strapped for cash and weary of the path the meat available at the local grocery store took to get here, I jumped at the opportunity when a friend asked if I would like to go check his salmon net placed out near the point!  While I am a little unsure about whale meat, salmon is a totally different story!

We came back with 3 salmon: one Pink and two large Chum.  And I personally got to take home a fine looking filet of Chum salmon!  So far I have enjoyed two lovely salmon meals and am looking forward to eating the many more steaks frozen in my freezer.

Cheers to eating local in the Arctic!

Barrow, AK: Just like a Mini NYC

On my first day of work at the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC) as the “intern,” not even 24hrs after arriving in Barrow, I was introduced to a co-worker who invited me into his office to offer some friendly advice about Barrow:

“You see,” he said, “Barrow is just like any other city.  Just think of it as a mini New York City.  You got your Mexican restaurant, your pizza joint, all different types of people: Filipinos, Koreans, etc.  That’s not to say that we are segregated or anything, but just to give you an idea of the community.”

The Famous Bowhead Jar on the shore of the Chukchi Sea outside of Brower’s Cafe

Stepping off the plane Wednesday evening, I would say that the absolute last thing that came to my mind was New York City.  I actually don’t think that I could have made any sort of analogy at that point, or even now after spending a couple days here, that would help me sense of what Barrow is like.  I had google-imaged Barrow numerous times to try to get an idea of what I would be seeing when I stepped off the plane.  But when I actually walked out of the airport terminal (terminal seems like an inappropriate term for the arrival building), on to the dirt road and for the first time glimpsed the grid-like rows of colorful, dilapidated buildings and houses on stilts, I was surprised.  Despite looking at pictures and talking with friends from Barrow, until I was actually physically present here, it was hard for me to see it as the fully, functioning modern community that it is (The dilapidated look of the houses, with faded and peeling paint, appears to reflect the harsh climate in Barrow more than the wealth or socio-economic status of the inhabitants, although I am sure that that does play a role to a degree).

My Street at NARL

With a couple days of touring and getting used to the idea of seeing “Be Alert for Polar Bear” posters on the exit doors for most buildings, I am starting to get settled.  I am staying in a “hut” owned by BASC at the old naval base, NARL.  It’s a little north of Barrow-proper and Browerville, which is also north of Barrow-proper, and just before the Barrow high school’s football field.

My Home for the Next Three Months: Hut 163

After preparing myself mentally for the last 6 months for what I expect to be a quite challenging experience, I have to say I am surprised with how content and comfortable I am here after just a couple days.  Everyone at BASC has been very welcoming, as have the few community members that I have met so far.  And while the landscape is barren and desolate, as a photographer, I find it incredibly interesting.

The last couple days I spent at home before heading up here, I was very anxious about spending three months in such and extreme and foreign environment. The fall and winter in the arctic are much different than the summer (which was actually quite pleasant in Greenland). On top of that, I am spending time in a community where I am an outsider. And lastly, from the photos I had seen, I had no idea how anyone actually lived here!

The Tundra Just Outside of Town

Fortunately my first few days here have calmed my nerves.  I realized, as I do every time I travel to a new place, that wherever you go, people are just people.  We all have the same basic needs for life and happiness.   So in that sense, maybe Barrow is like New York City, or any other town for that matter. Fulfilling these needs may take a slightly different form here than it does in Hanover, Seattle or New York City, but I have come to find that there is always a common ground that can be reached.

With that, I am looking forward to the next three months and the adventures that they are sure to bring!

The Professional and Non-violent Digging Alliance (PANDA)

Summary Report for the Professional And Non-violent Digging Alliance (PANDA) trip to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland from June 27^th to August 17^th, 2011:

PANDA  1    &    PANDA  2

Are proud to report that not only did they thoroughly enjoy the company of the musk ox, caribou, arctic hare, arctic fox and each other as they hiked around the Greenlandic tundra, but they also got some work done!

Here are a few numbers that sum up our time and the work we completed in our 6 ½ weeks in the area surrounding Kangerlussuaq, Greenland:

-Selected and worked at 9 sites along a 20 mile gradient extending from the ice sheet.

-Dug 40 deep (50 cm) soil pits taking 243 soil samples using a metal teaspoon as the weapon of choice

-Took 144 surface soil samples across 3 sites

-Buried 108 soil temperature loggers

-Placed 10 air temperature loggers and constructed 10 contraptions to hold the loggers.

-Completed 2 rounds of CO₂ flux data collection at 3 sites (sampling at 4pm and 4am), as well as a full diurnal cycle at 3 sites (sampling at 12pm, 6pm, 12am and 6am).

- Spent a day talking science with 24 highschool students from Greenland, the US and Denmark

-Camped for 34 days.

-Ate:

• 20 packages of Wasa crackers
• 4 jars of Peanut Butter
• 2 ½ jars of Nutella (we would have had more if had been able to get our paws on it)
•  8 lbs of 7 Grain Oatmeal
• 6 lbs of Cabot Cheddar Cheese
• 4 large sticks of Salami/Pepperoni
• And much, much more

After spending a good month and a half in Kanger, it was hard to say goodbye to the tundra, the incredibly wonderful staff at KISS and to my partner in crime, Julia.

I had a short trip home to the continental US before heading back up to the Arctic.  Julia, on the other hand, is headed back to the lab in Hanover, NH to start the real work of analyzing all 600+ soil samples we collected and the many more accompanying measurements we took!

All in all, a great summer!