Look At Me Still Talking When There’s Science To Do

In Grand Rapids… thinking about Barrow (among other things)

Archive for June, 2008

You folks look like Scientists!

June 30, 2008 at 2:34 am · Filed under Barrow and tagged:

Sometimes I am extremely pleased about successfully conducting myself through normal social situations.  I don’t usually care for small talk, but when I perceive that my conversation partner and I both leave an interaction feeling neither bemused nor put out, I am surprised and somewhat gratified.  My success must mean that I didn’t accidentally give someone a dirty look.

There are plenty of people to meet around here, and in the buildings we frequent, mostly researchers.  Evidently, when we trickle into town for food or a run to the airport, we are pretty recognizable. One gentleman, looking for some takers in a pick-up soccer game, spotted us right away at the grocery store, specifically because Jeremy and Rob hadn’t shaved since Michigan.

Two groups that we see most often around here are researchers from the University of Texas El Paso and Florida International University.  Some of these people have been around since Bob put in time in the field instead of hiring foolish lackeys like us to do it.  Since we are the only vegetation people, the nature of other projects means slightly different field seasons for some people. A few researchers are leaving already this week, and some, such as the sea ice people, were packing up as we were settling in.

Even among the Inupiat people, most of whom live in Barrow proper rather than the college-and-research region and most of whom we have yet to meet, there are some familiar faces. I always scoff at television shows that have recurring “around-town” sorts of characters, since I haven’t ever really experienced the kind of community where people like that exist. Barrow, however, is small enough that already I both recognize and have seen on several occasions people that I have yet to interact with personally, like “Tundra Tours Guy,” “Woman who works at the Office” and “Extremely Enthusiastic Blanket-Tossee.”

Among the entire population, both seasonal and permanent, though it is a small world it is a diversely representative one. I have met people from Canada, Mexico, Thailand, Costa Rica, India, Japan, Russia, Italy, France and several other places that I am probably leaving out. These people give Barrow mixed reviews; some are enthusiastic as they pack their last bag, and others seem to really enjoy the atmosphere. As for me, I like it so far, and I can see why so many people are returners, some on their fourth or fifth consecutive summer. Sure, some of them can’t quit, in practical terms, after investing so much time and money into their Big Project, but Rob’s and Jeremy’s enthusiastic nostalgia is palpable as they show Jean and I the various attractions. I can’t say no to nostalgia.

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J Crew is left without the Bobs.

June 29, 2008 at 12:04 am · Filed under Barrow, Research and tagged:

We sometimes call one member of our four-person research team “Job.” This isn’t his name, but since the rest of us have names that begin with the letter ‘J,’ he felt he needed to conform. In any case he is never really alone, since our PI (Primary Investigator), and technically the fifth member of the team, shares his given name: Robert.

This morning, for the second time in a week, we drove to the airport for check-in and then went out to breakfast while we waited for the plane to show up. For the second time this week, a lovable member of the team who happens to be named Robert was taken away from us by Alaska Airlines.

The first Robert, Bob, of course isn’t coming back until August… the 14th, I believe. The second, “Job,” will be back in time to celebrate the Fourth with us. He is attending NICOP (the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and giving a fifteen minute talk on… permafrost.

Although I’m sure everyone knows all about it (…), arctic research is kind of a big deal this year. The NICOP website explains in this succinct fashion:

This Ninth International Conference on Permafrost (NICOP) marks the 25th anniversary of the formation of the IPA and the Fourth ICOP (1983), both having taken place at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The fourth International Polar Year (IPY) will be celebrated in 2008, as will the 50th anniversary of the International Geophysical Year (IGY), and the 125th anniversary of the first International Polar Year (IPY). Both the International Union of Geological Sciences and the International Geographical Union, IPA parent organizations, will hold their international congresses in August 2008. The International Year of Planet Earth will also be celebrated in 2008. Taken together, summer 2008 represents a special time to celebrate our national and international permafrost heritage.

As you can see by the sheer number of acronyms, it’s kind of a big deal.

To some people, anyway. Others, like the two principal authors on the paper Job is presenting, cannot be bothered to attend. Thus the presentation duties fall to our illustrious companion. He did get co-author on a published scientific paper, however, at the ripe old age of twenty-one, so don’t bother feeling sorry for him.

The basic question of the paper is this: given that warming increases the thickness of tundra vegetation (this is proved in other of Bob’s papers), will the increased vegetation layer insulate the soils, resulting in cooler soil temperatures, or will warming of the air also warm soil temperatures? Job chose this riveting question as his independent study project while in Barrow last year, though I’m sure I’ve managed to explain it incorrectly (you’ll tell me what I messed up on, won’t you, Jobby?). He helped install the data collectors and analyze the data, so though Bob wrote the paper, Job gets his name on it and is officially as Scientist as they come. We are very proud of him!

Some readers may have conjectured that I, as a member of the research team, am also required to have an independent study project. By golly, you’re right, and I do… but I choose to explain it at another time when I have something substantial to say on the subject. Besides, I have to go meet my two remaining J Crew members and watch the Discovery Channel. This is a step up from last night, when the entertainment was Putting On Coats And Walking Into A Very Cold Freezer. I’m not even kidding. It was forty below in there.

Oh! And I plum forgot to tell the answer to the paper! If I followed the presentation correctly, and, looking back, it appears that I did not (though I saw it four times), the answer is: It Depends.

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Having fun isn’t hard…

June 27, 2008 at 10:27 pm · Filed under Barrow and tagged: ,

Today I got the most perfect souvenir that I could possibly ask for. Better than a keychain, better than a spoon, better than an ulu, and better than the pictures which I usually decide not to take (and thereby ruin the moment by digging out the camera).

The clue is: I also picked up two books that are due in 30 days.

My Barrow library card (!!!!) is for the Tuzzy Consortium Library at the Inupiat Heritage Center. The library is adorable and very nice looking. It contains all manner of books and videos (and happiness).

We also went out to eat at Pepe’s again. It is confusing in there. You walk in after having driven past the ice-filled ocean, and the room is thoroughly decked out in Mexican decor. This week the tables and ceiling are draped in red-white-and-blue for the upcoming Independence Day, and of course Hello Kitty oversees the whole thing from her perch at the top of a display of Japanese collectibles. All themes welcome.

The afternoon was spent attending to touristy pursuits. We learned about whaling and arctic birds at the Heritage Center and went to pet the furs at the fur shop (even the resident vegetarian).

Now I have a shower to take, a new book to read, and a nap to be awakened from when it’s time to watch Jurassic Park later.

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Look! A corn puff!

June 27, 2008 at 3:49 am · Filed under Barrow, atquasuk, travel and tagged: , , ,

The internet wasn’t broken yesterday, but the wireless was, meaning that the only place we could get internet access was the hundred year old PC in Jeremy’s room.

It was Jeremy and Matt’s room yesterday, because six persons arrived to stay at the house. It’s not our house, it is a house that is rented in Atqasuk for the use of researchers. No one stayed with me, probably because I smell so bad.

So these loon people show up and I had to try to remember the names of Debbie, Ken, Matt, Sarah, Jeff, and Joel all at once. It didn’t help that I had been about five minutes away from a two hour nap and Jeremy was nowhere to be seen, since he’d gone fishing with some old turkey lunchmeat and an As Seen On TV! travel fishing pole.

Then the kids materialized and brought a puppy named Princess and stayed until midnight, lurking around the house with ladders since we wouldn’t let them inside. We have been pretty nice to them this week. They loved the popcorn and popsicles. Lest you think we are trying to fatten them up, we also offered them carrots and they accepted quite happily. They also kicked my butt at war (leaving me with only a king, an ace, a two and a six after one round), but were astoundingly less successful at Trivial Pursuit. I even tried to pick easy questions, but apparently they’ve never heard of Gordie Howe.

All I had time for on the internet was posting six sentences yesterday so I could post the link to the pictures. It was a tough fight. I will try to put up more pictures of more consequential things soon.

Today we got done in the field early and raced to the airport dirt-road landing strip with our bags to see if they would let us on a flight we didn’t have tickets for. They did so without question. No IDs, no bag searches, no metal detectors (ha), no credit card numbers, just a once-over and a “sure, hop on.” And me with my pocket knife and a full bottle of water in my carry-on!

We were not in a rush to get to Barrow, only in a rush to get out of Atqasuk, having been in the way of the loon people long enough. They were very nice but one of them was sick and they were preparing for two weeks of camping in the tundra and catching loons. This involved, for whatever reason, many many boxes of Jell-o.

Speaking of processed foods, it was appropriate that we were not in a rush to get to Barrow, since our flight to Barrow was by way of Wainwright. There we dropped off one passenger and two dozen boxes of beef jerky, otter pops and Wonder Bread (“2,000 Miles Fresher! Baked in Alaska!”). It appeared to be a normal coastal village, sort of an Atqasuk and Barrow hybrid.

We also were in a rush to get back and surprise Jean, and we were not disappointed by her excitement at our return (which was not supposed to be until tomorrow morning). We immediately went out to eat at Osaka with some other researchers and racked up a $361 bill for sushi and Japanese food for fourteen people. Dessert was on the house, since we sang happy birthday to a member of our party who had no real reason to commemorate his age. The dessert was a red-bean ice cream pop. This is exactly what it sounds like. It looked like a Fudgesicle with berries in it. It was sick. Jean loved it. What a day she had!

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I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!

June 26, 2008 at 1:47 am · Filed under atquasuk and tagged: ,

Wireless is down.

Loon people are here.

Kids have dogs now.

Mosquito bite on the inside of my pinky finger.

Ate spaghetti twice this week!

Pictures are here.

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If it’s not big enough to be seen with the naked eye, it’s too small to care.

June 25, 2008 at 4:07 am · Filed under Research, atquasuk

Back in Atqasuk today and working hard. The last time I vaguely alluded to my work at the Atqasuk wet site I had some questions from a dear aunt about the important job I have of watching grass grow.

At what rate do plants grow?

They grow quickly! We did growth measures on my site today and some plants that had not been visible yet last week were over ten centimeters this week, if not more.

Fast enough that some would be distinguishable before your job is done (and you’d know if a guess was correct)?

We are here for almost the whole growing season, meaning that some flowers are already wilting and are starting to go to seed. When the inflorescences come up and open, then it is easier to tell for sure which is which. Of course, we never guess… even the little (2 cm or shorter) plants from last week were identifiable by this week. When I say that even my professor wasn’t always sure, I mean that the plants were too young to have distinguishable characteristics. He is much too clever to have to guess.

What is process for identifying plants? Do you have pictures to compare them to? Written descriptions? Or what?

We started out with Bob pointing to something and telling us what it was, quickly progressing to Bob pointing to something and saying, “What’s that?” In the plots themselves there are popsicle sized craft sticks with ID codes on them for the individuals we have to mark. This makes it easier to have a visible example of the species when trying to identify something somewhere else inside or outside the plot. Of course, we are also equipped with all manner of written descriptions, but since the differences are subtle, it mostly took some trail-by-fire quizzes of Bob’s. There was no real fire, only shame.

Are plants in wet site all different than dry site, or do they have some in common?

There are some plants in common, but not very many between the Atqasuk wet and dry sites. The same is true in Barrow, and Barrow and Atqasuk have some common plants as well. What is likely to happen between wet and dry is to have different (but related) species. For example, the Atqasuk dry site has Luzula confusa and Luzula artica while in the wet site I have Luzula wahlenbergii. I kind of like Lwah. It’s cute.

And remember, there are no dumb questions, or so says the one asking them.

That remains to be seen. But I highly esteem these questions.

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Adventures are a wonderful thing

June 24, 2008 at 2:57 am · Filed under Barrow, atquasuk and tagged: , , , ,

I suspected that I would love the sunlight in the arctic circle because the constant presence of daylight would put the sun at a very advantageous angle in the sky. I suspected correctly. I prefer low suns to overhead suns. The sun has been joining us quite a bit lately. In fact, today in Atqasuk, it was hot and buggy. One layer of clothes and one layer of bug spray were all I needed.

Saturday started out as a work day but as the sun came out we stopped working and headed back to town for the first Nalukatuk of the season. Between the sun and the beach, where the festival was being held, I was pretty happy.

A Nalukatuk is held to pass out the meat and celebrate a successful whale hunt. These days are North Slope Borough holidays, so things close down and people fly in from all the next villages over. We didn’t go to the meat passing out part and we didn’t eat any whale, but this was merely the first one. This particular whale was killed about a month ago. I think there will be four more.

The party is thrown by the successful whaling crew. The part of the celebration that we saw was the blanket toss. A trampoline-sized seal skin is used to toss people into the air, and the goal is to stay on the blanket and keep standing and jumping with each toss. There are often injuries, but there is also candy being tossed by the people being tossed. Candy is exciting.

We’d had a full day that included going out for Thai food that was served by a woman from Vietnam by way of Ohio. She gave us lemon meringue desserts on the house because she liked our style. Mostly she liked Jean’s style, though Jean turned down the offer of an ear and nose massage.

Rob and I were not interested in watching a movie or going to bed before midnight, because he’d suggested taking an ATV out to Point Barrow and it sounded like a capital idea, especially given the sunlight situation. Point Barrow is about nine miles northeast of Barrow itself. Since our hotel and lab are already six miles out of Barrow, we didn’t have as far to go as all that.

We drove down a fairly narrow (maybe… i don’t know, it was less than a football field) dirt strip with the sea on either side. These Seas mean that the ocean we see on the beach every day is not really the ocean, but at the end of the point, it is. So we saw the Arctic Ocean and took pictures and kicked a piece of whale blubber and checked out the various bones adorning the beach.

Rob also instructed me in how to drive the ATV. This went about as well as could be expected.

The next morning we put Bob on a plane. Joining us for the farewell breakfast at “Pepe’s North of the Border” were a reporter and a middle school science teacher from Florida. Both were writing blogs about their experiences working with a research group from Florida International University. The former was here on her own dime and doing freelance writing for her paper, and she was getting on the same plane as Bob and going home. The latter is a part of the PolarTREC program for educators, and she has three or four more weeks of Barrow time. Both blogs are linked at the far right.

We don’t have our leader anymore, so we’ll have to be content with emailing him every other day until August when he comes to pack us up.

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Welcome to Owl City.

June 23, 2008 at 1:34 am · Filed under Barrow, Research, alaska and tagged: , ,

My cheap Target watch knows the day of the week but not the date, probably due to the trickiness of 2008 being a leap year. Bob made fun of me for not knowing how to change it, but he’s the one who has us use Julian days instead of the Gregorian calendar, thus rendering the cheap watch’s calendar feature useless.

Julian days are just… counting. What a surprise, right? Counting. Today (Sunday) is 174.

I think Julian days are one of the proofs that we are Serious Researchers, the other being that the hotel we stay in says SCIENTISTS BLDG on it next to a very Serious picture of a polar bear. That’s how I know what I am. I read the building. I am a scientist. The other building, the one without a girls’ bathroom and the one that Rob and Jeremy are in, is decorated with a jovial walrus.

It’s not so much a hotel as it is a place for researchers (and SCIENTISTS) to stay. It is a work camp, dormitory style with a bathroom down the hall. Individuals are not allowed; all customers must be part of some group or other. In the sense that it is a building that people pay money to sleep in and have other people wash their sheets, however, it is indeed a hotel, but foundations like the NSF are likely to be footing the bill. And multiple pairs of muddy tundra boots are likely to line the hallway.

Across the street (so, about twenty-five feet away with a bit of dirt in between) is one of the Ilisagvuk College buildings. It houses labs and the cafeteria where we eat most of the time. Our lab isn’t in this building, however, it’s 500 yards away in the new building. The new building is nice, but the walk requires that we work extra hard not to forget anything in the hotel rooms and have to run back. We don’t have a vehicle yet and have to beg rides into town for groceries (and dinner, if we are back too late to catch the cafeteria) and out to the BEO… the land our sites are on. We hope to get a vehicle for our usage by the end of the weekend, since we are all kinds of tired of waiting for rides.

Friday we actually had to make our ride wait, because we took a very Science-y detour on the way back from the field. We looked at more plant species, vascular plants as well as lichens and mosses, some ice wedges, an owl nest, a jager nest, and the Arctic Ocean. It isn’t technically the ocean at this point, it’s a lagoon, but I think it counts. It’s a bunch of frozen salt water. We built a snow man and made snow angels.

I carried the gun the whole way, so I have very Science-y sore shoulders to go with my Science-y blister on the bottom of my foot and Science-y windburn on my face. It has fully replaced the sunburn, but results in the same reddish color and the same feverish skin. It goes well with my chapped nose. If I hate anything about Alaska, it is my nose running all the time.

My goal was to write frequent short posts so that I wouldn’t have any boring novels clogging up the speediness and short attention span of the internet, but I tend to be long-winded rather than concise. So much for that plan. This post does not follow the fairly rigid precedent of daily updates because the internet has been down, so this is my first chance to check emails and post in over 48 hours.

In an effort to not write tooooo much all at once, I’ll stop now with this post that I drafted just before the internet broke.  Even though my temporary internet silence was due to technical difficulties rather than time constraints, I have a whole weekend of adventuring that I’d like to write down. Tomorrow.

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It’s supposed to be at 8:15, so…. sometime between 9:00 and 10:30

June 20, 2008 at 1:54 am · Filed under Barrow, alaska, atquasuk, travel and tagged: , ,

I anticipate that Jeremy and I will be doing plenty of waiting for planes in the coming weeks. There are scheduled flights that do a Barrow-Atqasuk-Wainwright loop three times a day, but variables such as weather, indifference, and simply being an airline keep the flights from following a strict timetable. Fortunately, in Atqasuk, we can see the “airport” from the house as well as the welcoming committee driving out to meet the plane. The welcoming committee consists of a cop who is meant to monitor the traffic of alcohol and the local mail-and-everything-else-of-consequence guy; these two have some sort of mystical connection with the plane that allows them to be aware of its movements while the rest of the town is calling Barrow every five minutes to ask when the plane is going to arrive.

We had a pleasant flight this morning since once again the weather cleared up in both places. Last time we flew on the little single-propeller plane we were five of seven passengers and had only a single pilot to manage the twenty minute trip. Today we had co-pilots, though we were the only two passengers, and we had to climb through the co-pilot’s door because the rest of the cabin was filled up with our only other companion: an ATV.

I watched the plane’s shadow during the short and easy flight. At least, I assumed it was easy, since our pilots were playing Trivial Pursuit during the journey. Jeremy and I were not asked to join.

After spending years of my life firmly on the ground, I have suddenly experienced many airports, and all in the space of a week. Some, like those in Fairbanks and Grand Rapids, were under construction, while I barely got to see the airports in Minneapolis and Barrow, the former because we were running to catch the connecting flight on time, and the latter because it was jam-packed with those arriving, those departing, and the people who were merely expecting some sort of freight.

My favorite airport so far is definitely the other Barrow airport. The jam-packed one is the official Alaska Airlines terminal, while Frontier, who we use on the weekly flights to Atqasuk, occupies the old pre-metal detectors Alaska Airlines building. Other than the usual door into the building from the street, the only exit is the door with a piece of paper saying “Gate F7″ taped to it that leads out back to the runway.

I’m hoping that Gates A7 through E7, or Gates F1 through F6, or A1 through F6 or WHATEVER, are actually secret portals hidden around town that we have to discover in order to be worthy of the magical adventures they undoubtedly lead to.

Since we were gone a whole three nights (or two, in the case of my roommate), the hotel in Barrow found it necessary to move Jean and I unannounced from one room to another while we were away. Though the rooms are nearly identical, they had the decency to move us to a room with a nicer desk chair, and plumper pillows… not to mention that ROOM FOUR is right next door to the bathroom. I guess that’s worth having all my stuff schlepped down the hall without the benefit of first closing the zipper on my suitcase.

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Remember on LOST when they met the Others?

June 19, 2008 at 2:40 am · Filed under alaska, atquasuk and tagged: , , ,

The Kids, they said. Atqasuk is great except for The Kids.

Kids and I are not exactly strangers after two summers of day care and years of VBS crafts. Plus, I usually identify with the mentality. I didn’t care about getting older anymore after I turned eleven and had a mini-mid-life crisis at fifteen, so I am not uncomfortable with kids.

Kids are not the same as babies.

In any case, how bad could it be, right? The looks of apprehension on the faces of my experienced coworkers didn’t scare me, nor did the unconvincing “it’s not that bad”s they used to quickly amend the horror stories. So all the five-to-ten-year-old boys in the little town of Atqasuk (Population: 350ish) are out of school for the summer and have nothing to do all day. So they have free rein in the town and can get around easily on all manner of bikes and ATVs. So they’re up from noon to six a.m. So their parents don’t care what they do (and have yet to make an appearance… at all). So they chase the truck the second we come into town and have us surrounded before the front door is unlocked. So what?

We’re kind of hiding from them today, so they keep coming up and banging on the house. I can’t always tell the difference between the banging to get in and the banging that is a result of the rocks-and-bats game that is going on outside, but we covered up the windows as both a light and a children preventative measure.

They really aren’t that bad, but after a field day they are not ideal companions. Their favorite things about us so far are our radios, which make the most delightful beeping noises, and the gummy bears that Jeremy used today to bribe them to stay away. I found three of them in my right boot this morning. Gummy bears, not kids. We have yet to determine if this was a deliberate attack or a random act of mindless mischief.

One of the cleverer ones noticed my eyes right away and tried unsuccessfully to point out the peculiarity to the others. He had a long line of questioning for me, but refreshingly he stayed away from the “was your mom on crack when you were born?” route. I believe his name to be Edward.

So the gummy bear situation really could have been a hate crime. Maybe they have something against heterochromia. They do have something against white people, or their parents do, based on the colorful Inupiat racial slur their parents taught them. Of course, when they used it last year my coworkers had no idea what it meant until another white person told them, which I think is a quintessential example of the inanity of profanity. The kids didn’t really know it was bad, either. I don’t think they know much about the Inupiat language. They did throw rocks at a researcher one year, however, so you can’t be too careful.

We plan to bring popsicles back for them next time we are in Atqasuk.

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