Working in the smoke, The smoke from southern fires rolls in Options

[Tom_Crumrine]

21 June 2005

The solstice. From now on days become 7 minutes shorter. Do the math and you can see it will still be a long time before we have darkness. I think the lesson is be careful what you wish for though. With the darkness comes the cold.

As I mentioned yesterday the smoke from southern fires had begun to roll in yesterday. If you want to check them out from satellite imagery click on the my webpage link below.

My Webpage

The normal view from camp.



The view yesterday.



Yesterday Peter and Donie and I worked on some of the more interesting removal work. We were going from plot to plot looking for betula, ledum and sometimes for canopy species. There are fewer of these plants and they are easier to remove than moss so it was a welcome break. Sadly our compatriots were left to finish the never ending moss plot. At this writing almost 50 person hours of work have been spent on that plot and nearly 8 kilograms of moss have been removed. Here they are shown in their 4 person assault on the remaining section.



Many have asked about the results that we might get for this experiment. In this picture you can see where the betula (dwarf birch shrub) has overtaken the plot and is growing well above normal tundra height.



In the next picture you can see what happens when ledum and betula are removed in the presence of fertilizer. The grasses and sedges go wild. These plots are also favored by voles--the underground shoots of the plants must be a little better in these areas. Also the "hay" left over from each year does a great job of mulching out the other species--especially moss.



So that is a little picture of what we are actually doing. While working yesterday Donie and I also talked a great deal about how I can incorporate this work into what I am doing for next year. She had the idea that we could do fertilized plots and greenhouse plots if we could get some space out in the fields by the athletic fields. It is something I will have to investigate when I return--I think it could be really cool to do some long term research in our area.

The final picture for today is from the lab. As the smoke began to clear out at the end of the day it gave a cloudy and ominous feeling to the day. It was odd to feel like it was going to rain all day only to continually realize that what was in the air was smoke not water.



More later.

[Leslie_Pierce]

Can you smell the smoke? And, is it affecting your breathing? Or, will we see you in a gas mask soon?

I wonder how far north the smoke will make it. I'll be watching the website you posted. Thanks!

Leslie