Posts tagged #field

Who Dealt these Cards?

 

Flashback Friday

Abisko

    Way back when, well not that long time ago but still 10 years ago, I had the privilege to take a field class in northern Sweden, about how climate change affect the arctic and the subarctic environment. I guess that was the beginning of the journey I am currently on (I guess I can argue that it started way before then too, but I'll go with this for now). It does make me wonder, who dealt these cards? Did it just randomly happen that I took that class or was it because I was intrigued by it and wanted to learn more, or was it because I had never been to Abisko, or what? Did I choose my own path back then or did I accidentally stumble upon it. Either way I think that class is what brought me to where I am now. 

 
 

Under the midnight sun

    During that class two other students and I ventured out on a night hike to get to the next destination for our class, of course we talked with the professors before and they all agreed that we could to that if we wanted to. So we did. We ventured out under the midnight sun right after dinner that evening. Up and over the mountains to get to the research station. Across fields of snow and gorgeous midnight sun that casted its rays upon the beautiful country of northern Sweden. Right then and there I must have decided that I love this place. The mountains and that midnight sun. We were also lucky enough to spot a Wolverine from afar, which is the first but not the last one that I have seen. It was to far away to get a photo of it though.

 
 

My path?

    Very often I do wonder where I would have been had I not started my PhD in Alaska. Would I have done a PhD in Sweden? Actually I did apply for a PhD in Sweden, but didn't even get a reply from that application, which (in my opinion) is ridiculous. So I broaden my search and stumbled upon a PhD position in Alaska. I don't think I quite realized what I was getting myself into. I mean I realized the PhD part, but I don't think I realized what a gem Alaska really is. I don't think I had dreamt about Alaska or anything like that. Although my mom claims she used to make up bedtime stories about me exploring parts of the world, including Alaska. Since then I have wandered the mountains of Alaska, well a few, very very few of them...but still.

 
 

Alaska

    I've worked remotely in parts of Alaska as part of my research, but also helping other people with their research and fieldwork. But I love it. And I miss it. But there are more mountains to be discovered and I have the privilege to do that, which I am very grateful of. As you all probably know, not everyone are able to do that. One thing though, all of this doesn't come for free. And I have given up and sacrificed large parts of my life too, to be able to do what I am doing. We are given our deck of cards at the beginning of our life, and how we play them is up to us, and as with any card game you play, sometimes you loose and sometimes you win. Nothing in life comes for free, remember that. 

 
 

    Who dealt your cards? Or did you just stumble upon your present life?

 
 
 
 
 
Posted on February 24, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, Alaska, Sweden, Science and tagged Alaska Sweden Arctic Subarctic Wilderness remote areas Abisko Mountains Research Science Midnight Sun Sun Midnight Sunset Elsewhere 2017 Summer Adventures field Fieldwork Family National Park National Parks Abisko National Park.

The Land God Forgot - ANWR

The lonely sunsets flame and die;
The giant valleys gulp the night;
The monster mountains scrape the sky,
Where eager stars are diamond-bright.

Wednesday Thoughts

Arctic Air

    Those are the recent good news when it comes to the arctic! You can read more about it here! In recent days we have gotten less good news, like the warmest year in 30 years in Alaska. Earlier in December we read about the lack of sea ice in the arctic sea, and the warm temperatures we have seen there. And we have also read about the effects of the warming on polar bears, or the problem with the overfull polar bear prison in Churchill, Manitoba. 

It's a Burning Matter

    These news aren't necessarily new new, we know that the arctic are seeing the highest increase in annual average temperature, and on top of that Alaska is one of the regions where this warming has been the most prominent. We know that the drying of the landscape combined with an increase in lightning frequency are increasing the annual area burned in northwestern North America. Burning of forests are natural, especially boreal forests and specifically black spruce. The problem is when these fires happen more frequently, that is, burn the same area within the same time period as it once back in time only burned once. But it's not only the burning itself, after the fire we can see changes in for instance the species composition of the vegetation, regrowth and also the effect on permafrost, and subsequently freshwater chemistry.  

The beauty of the Arctic and Sub-arctic Region

    Have you ever driven through the vast landscape up north? The endless tundra, black spruce and mountains, weaved together in this place that we call earth? It's so beautiful, and seem like very few people have actually seen it, or been spell bound by its beauty. I am not one of those, because this beauty of the nature is what I live for. 

    Do you have a favorite region of the world? I am burning for the Arctic and Sub-arctic, but I know other people are burning for other parts of this world.

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Wednesday Thoughts, Science and tagged Science Canadaland Canada Alaska Mountains DumpTrump 2017 field Fieldwork.

Dirty Paws and Furry Coat, and the Forest of Talking Trees pt.1

 

Flashback Friday

Forest of Talking Trees

Today I will take you to one of my absolute favorite places in the whole world. My field site, called CPCRW, short for Caribou-Poker Creek Research Watershed.

 
 

    The watershed is mainly black spruce, but also quite an abundance of deciduous vegetation, and have a lot of different small and big creatures. We start going out already in May (sometimes even late April), even though most of the snow hasn't even melted yet. Early in the season most of the watershed is brown and you could still see leftover dead plants from last years summer.

 
 

    The fieldwork doesn't come for free, and if you by chance forget to use mosquito spray you will most likely end up like the pictures below will show. Another thing about mosquitos a lot of people don't understand, if you think there are a lot of mosquitos in the interior and north of Alaska, multiply that by 100 and that is probably closer to the reality. You can not survive without mosquito repellant. 

 
 

    We hike in rubber boots because yeah, we follow rivers. Mosquito spray or a bug shirt is needed.

 
 

We Follow Rivers

    I have a poster I printed with tons of small pictures I have taken in the watershed through the years and through the seasons. I call it "We follow rivers", because that is what we do. We sample water and try to understand how changes in the landscape affect the streamwater chemistry. Alaska is underlained by permafrost, both continuous and discointinuous, and of course the most southern part is permafrost free. Few people comprehend how large Alaska actually is. Like Sweden it's pretty long, but longer of course (1420 miles; 2285km).  Permafrost stores a lot of carbon, old carbon, since it's literally ground that has been frozen (and still is to certain extent) for hundreds and thousands of years. One of the important questions is "How much carbon is being released when permafrost thaws?", because permafrost throughout Alaska is thawing due to the increase in temperature. And of course, we also have the increase in fires and how that actually affects the landscape and stream water chemistry. 

 
 

    We follow rivers and investigate our own research questions and the underlying question about how thawing permafrost affect streamwater chemistry. 

 
 

    If I could make a soundtrack for my fieldsite, the lead song would definetely be: Of Monsters and Men - "Dirty Paws" 

 
Posted on September 2, 2016 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under The great wide open, Alaska, Flashback Friday, Science and tagged Permafrost permafrost degradation Alaska science stream chemistry Boreal Forest Black Spruce birch tracks wolf tracks 2016 Adventure Spring field Fieldwork Life in Alaska.