Down to Business

Here at Toolik, we are serious about our work. Scientists come here to conduct research on every kind of life that exists in the arctic. The one that I have the privilege of working for is Dr. Laura Gough, a plant ecologist who also teaches at UTA. She has not arrived yet, but a collection of her collaborators and students are here and we are busy as ever. In addition to maintaining the experiments already in place, it seems like there is a new one to work on every day!

Lab 2, shared between 10-15 people working on "LTER" (long term ecological research)

Our field truck. All of the vehicles here have at least one extra gas tank.

Jake, Shannon, & Matt heading out to one of the field sites. We had to park the truck and hike because of large snow drifts.

If you wore your rubber boots, no problem! I had hiking boots and gaiters, so I jumped across.

When the going gets tough...  (Matt had wet feet after this). If you click the image to zoom in you can see one of the tripods in the background. This unit collects temperature data, records bird songs, and takes pictures of snowmelt.

This is Shannon using a very expensive (over $30,000) machine to detect the "greening" of the tundra. We have specific plots set up at our field sites that we will be taking weekly measurements from.

More hi-tech gear! The solar-powered contraption is called a "mantis," and it takes measurements similar to Shannon's backpack. The hexagonal structures help accelerate the thawing of the tundra. This may help us get an idea of the effects of global climate change.

Jake and Jesse doing a "sweep-net" procedure to collect insects off of the tundra. We are especially interested in how the insects, birds, and plants interact.

This pvc pipe has "i-buttons" attached to it. These water-resistant sensors record the temperature every hour. At the end of the summer, we will take them down and use the data in our reports.

We never go anywhere in the field without bear spray!

This is a very brief view of the kinds of things we are doing. I will be posting more details about the experiments as soon as I get a chance!

My New Home

After the endless journey down the dirt road, finally Body said "There it is!"

 And just like that, we had arrived.

Our helicopter. I'm determined to make friends with the scientists who use this.

So I'm not exactly roughing it...

My home. 8N

Complete with electricity and wi-fi

Other side of my 'room'

Looking out my door

Out my door to the left (the majority of camp)

To the right

Nothing like livin' large in the arctic tundra!

The Trek to Toolik

Getting to Toolik Field Station is not easy. After a nice flight in which I had an entire row of seats to myself, a New Zealander (or "kiwi" as they like to be called) named Body picked me up in one of the station's heavy-duty deisel pickup trucks. We made our way south on the Dalton Highway for over three hours, running across some very interesting things on the way.

Definitely a roughneck kind of town

We hadn't been on the road for 30 minutes when I spotted this guy. Body says I'm lucky because some people come up here for five years and never see one.

A golden eagle.

Musk Oxen. Apparently they had beef to settle.

Caribou, aka reindeer. There were herds of these all over the tundra.

Water crossing!

Ice road truckers!

A long way from everywhere. (Slope Mt. Camp doesn't actually count as someplace)

The oil pipeline that runs along the road.

This was by far the most interesting part of the traverse to Toolik Field Station. I now truly feel the wilderness around me. Miles upon miles of nothing but earth, wild animals, and sky. No fences, no trash, no people. Just a bunch of crazy scientists and the land of the midnight sun.

Anchorage

I was able to check my bags at the airport fairly early today, so I hopped in a cab and headed to downtown Anchorage to do some exploring.

Anchorage is the "aviation crossroads of the world"

The roof is made out of sod!

The Rusty Harpoon, my one gift-shop stop. They didn't have anything I couldn't live without.

4th Avenue, Downtown Anchorage

After I wandered around for a while, my stomach got the best of me. I stopped in the Glacier Brewhouse for some lunch.

They asked me if we had microbreweries in Texas

The Deadliest Catch!

After lunch it was time to head back to the airport. However, I did spot this sign, which proves that there is hope for my girlfriend in Alaska afterall!

 

I'll take this opportunity to thank her for bearing with me this summer! I couldn't do it without her! (Especially since these photos are coming from her camera...)

Next stop, Prudhoe Bay!

Day 1

After a month of preparation and anticipation, I have finally set foot in Alaska. It's nearly 11pm and the sun has not set, but slowly crept towards the horizon since I landed around 8. I'm staying overnight in Anchorage before traveling to Deadhorse and ultimately Toolik Lake tomorrow.

 

 

My first glimpses of Alaska

My hotel, the Coast International Inn, is next to Lake Hood. Here they have seaplanes docked like we have boats in Texas. They line the entire coast.

I have a feeling this is the last time I will see one of these for a while

Even the locals here in Anchorage have never heard of Toolik Field Station. I'm excited to complete my travels and get acquainted with my home for the next three months!