Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high

A butterfly I found on the camp gravel pad that appears to be weighed down by a raindrop

This picture is taken at the same ice-wedge slump that I have pictures of in my previous post... the thawing has continued and now some willow plants are toppling in towards the stream bed.

Marjan in an ice cave

Will, from inside an ice cave

Eriophorum vaginatum (aka cottongrass) is flowering profusely at the site of the 2007 Anaktuvuk River Fire

The border of the burn is visible from the helicopter because of the flowing Eriophorum

Beautiful day on the tundra

Healy, Alaska

This past week I left Toolik Field Station and traveled to Healy, a small town a few hours south of Fairbanks. In August I will be enrolling in graduate school at the University of Florida and my research will be based just outside of Healy. My advisor will be Dr. Ted Schuur and I will be researching nutrient dynamics associated with permafrost thaw. The field site I will be working at is off of Stampede Rd, which you may have heard of if you've read or seen "Into the Wild."

The wood struts to the left of the boardwalk support snow fences that are installed during the winter. The snow drifts that accumulate on the leeward side of these fences acts insulates the soil and provides a 'winter warming' experimental treatment. The tall, plexiglass chambers passively warm the air during the growing season, providing a 'summer warming' experimental treatment.

The blue cables in the foreground are hooked up to a series of autochambers that periodically measure fluxes of CO2. This data is paired with other environmental observations to assess the impact of the winter and summer warming treatments on the carbon balance at this site.

The metal sheeting that is peeking out of the ground here is part of an experimental drying treatment. The sheeting goes down to the depth of the permafrost and a pump is used to lower the water table within the plot.

Wind turbine for powering the sites Eddy flux tower

Denali National Park is just down the road from Healy. I got to make a short visit and explore the area around the Savage River.

Mt McKinley (or Denali)
Impressive, no matter what you want to call it!

The cabin in Healy

One of the sled dogs living in the front yard of the cabin

Scenic overlook on the Parks Highway south of Fairbanks. First leg of my return trip to Toolik Lake!

Anyone have any mint jelly?
This little guy was hanging out along the Dalton Highway near Atigun Pass.

Dust Road Truckers

Wildlife, Wildfires, Wild (insert-noun-here)

Walking over aufeis near Galbraith Airport, South of Toolik Lake

Under aufeis!

Bonding with the Licor6400xt... One of the experiments we are working on this summer involves measuring respiration rates of decomposing leaf litter and roots. This involves many days of sitting in the lab pressing these buttons!

Helicopter flight to the burn sites
Now that the eddy flux towers have been set up for the season we visit them every two weeks to collect the gas exchange data and make sure the instruments are working properly. While at the sites we also measure canopy reflectance and thaw depth.

Goose egg

A burnt tussock (Eriophorum vaginatum) sprouting new growth

Moss regrowth at the severely burnt site

Sunday is my day off, time to go for a hike! This ridge is along the northern rim of Atigun Gorge.

Close up of the tundra showing moss, two different kinds of lichen, and some arctic cranberry leaves (Vaccinium vitis-idaea). Anyone else think this looks like an underwater scene?

A red fox that has taken to hanging around camp.

Eagle on Toolik Lake ice

Thermokarst/Ice-wedge slump
There has been some discussion as to what the proper geocryological term is to describe this feature that has shown up along a stream south of camp. Whatever the name it is definitely pretty awesome to poke around and look at.

Roots 'n dirt 'n ice

Jason sampling the ice

More roots 'n dirt 'n ice! I took these pictures by hanging my camera and arm down into some of the cracks.

This is a sparrow nest that I found in one of our research plots

Birds of doom! These chicks hatched the day before I took this picture... and were eaten the day after I took this picture.

Me and a really BIG gas powered drill!
Photo credit goes to Claire Treat, who was kind enough to let me help her take some permafrost cores.

Get your popcorn ready...

Because you've only got 50 seconds to eat it.

I cannot decide what I like best: watching the weather change, the ice melt, or the ground squirrels play on the rock in the foreground. Shortly after arriving in camp some of my lab mates and I set up a game camera to take photos of the lake inlet. I made this video with the hourly photos it has taken through today (June 7). Though it may look like the lake is now completely thawed, in reality much of the ice has simply migrated to the parts of the lake not visible in these shots. Nonetheless, you will notice the plants are greening up in the background!